


Choices

by jaimistoryteller



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Different Magics, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, First War with Voldemort, Post-Order of the Phoenix AU, Romance, Second War with Voldemort, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Time Travel, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:44:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 49,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2734769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaimistoryteller/pseuds/jaimistoryteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A twist on the idea of Time Travel, what happens if Hermione gets covered in time dust from the Time Room and uses a Time Turner to try and help in the war against Voldemort?</p><p>Originally poste of FF, a friend asked me to update so I am posting it here first, also reworking it as I go so there will be word and sentence differences between this version and the FF version</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Anything familiar is probably owned by J. K. Rowling or any of the companies that deal with the Harry Potter series
> 
> As always, I love reviews and will appreciate any left, along with kudos and other forms of communications.
> 
>  _Mind speech/telepathy_ , _spells in mindspeech_ , everything else
> 
> Primarily told from Hermione's view unless otherwise posted

_Hermione's POV_   
She was in the Department of Mysteries with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. They had come because of vision Harry had had regarding Voldemort having Sirius. While she had not wanted to come, wanted to have to ask the Headmaster and Order for help, there had been no time and there was no way that she was going to allow Harry to do this alone. Of course, it turned out she wasn't the only one thinking that.

Now the six of them are in the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Mysteries trying to escape from the Death Eaters that surround them.

As she faces off against Dolohov at Harry and Neville's side, a spell slams into her, slashing her chest and knocking her to the ground unconscious. She didn't know how much time had passed between when the spell hit her and when she came to in sharp pain. She only knew one thing: something horrible had happened, something that would cause a massive ripple effect.

Struggling to her feet, she totters to the circle room and tried to focus her magic on the Room of Time. The wild magic children did was because of strong emotion, perhaps she could do the same now if she could only focus. Through the excruciating pain she finds herself back in the Room of Time without ever moving, spotting a single Time Turner and grabbing it, she carefully set it back just a few short minutes, when she lands the pain staggers her, causing her to see spots but again she forces herself to focus.

Carefully, quietly, she made it to the room with the arch in it. Just as she entered she sees Sirius and Bellatrix Lestrange dueling. When she realizes that the horrible thing she had felt, that it had something to do with them, she watches carefully. A jet of light hits him, throwing him backwards towards the veil. Just as he is about to hit it, she reaches out with everything magical within her. Her mind crying _Accio_ at Sirius, even as she pushes Bellatrix with her magic towards the veil in his place, somehow knowing an even exchange must be made.

It was the last thing she saw before she blacked out.

When she comes to, she is laying in a room full of light. On a bed softer than anything she has ever been in. With walls that seem to shimmer, and a wide archway leading into a garden from the looks of it. It is not something that she recognizes. A slender woman wearing silver robes, thin wire glasses, with long curly silver-white hair, and pale skin is sitting in the chair next to her. She appears to be reading a book.

Setting the book down, the woman glances at her, _I rarely have problems Seeing where a person belongs yet you do not seem to fit quite right. I cannot decide where to send you. Perhaps something you have to say will help me decided where you belong._

It takes her a moment to realize that the voice had not been aloud, but within her mind. Despite that, she is clearly aware that the voice was coming from the woman in the silver robes. Licking her dry lips, she asks, "Where am I? Who are you?"

Tilting her head to the side the woman replies, _You're in my home. I am Ayumu, Keeper of Gates. I am not sure how you got here, you appeared in my garden for those who missed their Gate._

"Gate?" Hermione repeats, trying to think if she had ever heard that word in relation to magic. Nothing was coming forward, so instead she tries recalling if she had ever heard of someone called Ayumu. The only reference she can come up with is that one of the first Unspeakables had been named Ayumu but she had vanished over four-hundred years prior.

 _Do the Wizarding Folk recall nothing of the Gifts of Time? The Gates that allows a person to travel between instances in time, the modern Floo system is built off of the Gates, though they differ in they are tied to places not times. Hmmm, how odd, perhaps I should Watch to See what has changed since the last time I was in that realm._ The woman's mental voice is soft as a whisper, full of knowledge and curiosity.

Shaking her head, she replies, "I've never heard of Gates but I am muggleborn so perhaps that is why. You said we were in your home, where is your home located at?"

Blinking, Ayumu tilts her head again, _Why, within the very fabric between Gates. I believe you would call it the Spirit World or Astral World. I so rarely get visitors here. Perhaps, yes, I think that might be why you do not know of the Gates. You're from one of the other Worlds._ She shakes her head for a moment, a look of realization on her face, _How could I of forgotten that there are many Worlds? Particularly since I See things from each of them, no wonder I could not figure out where you belong, you feel like two different-time streams from the same World._

Hermione can think of nothing to say as she stares at Ayumu, trying to process what she had just learned. If there are many worlds, and each world had other layers where things went differently, that meant that things were not set in stone. That things could be changed. Perhaps, yes perhaps she could help change things for the better. Bad things happen to those who play with time, she hears whispering through her mind, the warning given to her when she got the Time Turner in her third year. Another voice, unfamiliar to her whispers through her, one must follow their instincts for it will always be true.

 _I present you with two options, Hermione Jean Granger, I can send you back to where you came from. Though it will unheal your chest that I have repaired, well most of it anyways. Or I could send you backwards, to a time before things were set in stone, you could attempt to repair some of the damage now before it truly occurs. Chose wisely, I will only give you one chance._ For a moment Ayumu falls silent, then she continues, _I will give you some time to consider your options. When you have decided, come to the garden._

With that, she stands and drifts out of the room through the archway in the wall.


	2. Chapter 1: Making a Choice

_Hermione's POV  
_ What feels like several hours passes for her as she sits on the bed thinking. Her mind is going faster than she can seem to keep up as she tries to weigh her options. Meddling with time can be so very dangerous, but maybe, if she is careful, she can change things for the better. If only there was a way she could know how the changes she makes will affect her time she would be more than willing to go backwards and try to change things for the better.

With that decision made, she stands up and walks over to the archway, looking out at one of the most beautiful gardens she had ever seen laid out before her. It takes her a few minutes to discover where Ayumu is seated as she follows the path through the garden. When she does find her, she can do nothing but stare for a few moments at the scene before her as it looks like something out of a book or painting. Finally, with a shake of her head, she moves forward to stand by the bench that Ayumu is sitting on.

Fidgeting, she inquires, "Is there a way to make it so I know what effects my interference has on the future?"

A thoughtful look comes to Ayumu's face as she considers it, slowly she nods. _I believe so, however to do so you only get one chance because a Time Turner will not work for you on events you change. Could you live with the consequences?_

She thinks about it for a long while before nodding and answering, "Yes."

The smile that lights up Ayumu's face is bright and radiant. _Then I shall send you to where you will do the most good if you make the right choices. But first the gift of change,_ lifting her hand from her lap, she etches runes into the air. Each glows brightly before fading out but they are none that Hermione knows. _You will do the most good in 1975 I think. Chose wisely what to do while there, the day you are born, this body will fade away, your memories will transfer to the infant you but will be locked until the day after the Department of Mysteries incident at which point you will recall everything that happens in the past. I warn you now , it may be confusing merging the two timelines together since you will have memories of being older._

She nods, thinking on what Ayumu is saying. Before she can say anything else, Ayumu etches more of the runes into the air. The shimmering surrounds Hermione and the world disappears into a prismatic blur. Gasping, she lands on her knees as she appears in the middle of the Room of Time.

Behind her she hears a gasp, slowly getting to her feet she turns around to see a man standing there with a clipboard in his hands.

Stammering, he inquires, "How did you get in here?"

Blinking, she responds, "I'm not exactly sure, particularly where here is."

She looks around the room, staring at all of the clocks and timepieces that she can see. There is such a massive variety, some looking ancient, others looking brand new, and then there are those like nothing she has ever seen. Sitting on one of the shelves is a jar, within the jar a small jewel colored humming bird is continuously hatched from its egg, grows to full, size flies around the jar, ages, dies, and becomes an egg again. There is also a clocks like the one that Molly has for her family as well, some have faces on them, others are blank.

"I'm still in the Department of Mysteries?" she finally asks.

The man nods, "Why yes you are, in the Time Room, in here time is always changing, always shifting. Its effects on our world are so very different. Do you know where you are from or where you should be right now?"

Thinking hard about it, she answers, "Ayumu said I should land in 1975, that I should be careful of my choices for there will be no second chances."

The clip boarded falls to the floor, as he stammers, "Ayumu?"

She nods, "Yep."

Leaning down to pick up his clipboard, he mutters, "Ayumu, that's a name nobody outside this department knows. She was the founder of our department, no one knows where she came from, no one knows where she went, but sometimes people show up, people who she has sent here, every time it happens there is massive shift in events. So were you given any instructions?"

Nodding, she replies, "To make the right choices, I think I am supposed to help provide a third choice, something that there currently is not. At least not from what I know."

He nods, "I am Zarab, I am the head researcher in the Time Room, since Ayumu sent you to me, I guess I will be your guardian. Are you hungry?"

She nods.

He sets his clipboard down and motions towards the door. Leading her out of the room, they head into the primary circular chamber and he opens one of the other doors before motioning her in. The room she finds herself in appears to be a staff area of some type. There are several other witches and wizards here as well, most eating, though some are relaxing, and others are talking. Going over to the wall he puts in a request for lunch, asking her if she has any preference. She shakes her head no, so he just gets two of his lunches, handing her the first tray when it appears before taking his.

Over the next little bit they discuss everything that had happened so far in her life, from the day she born to the day she went to Hogwarts to the day that she went to the Department of Mysteries five years later. From there the conversation turns to her brief time with Ayumu, and what she thinks her purpose is. After that they fall silent for a while, both thinking carefully on everything that they have discussed.

Finally he looks at her commenting, "Well it would be best if you took another name while you are here. Possibly wear a minor glamour or alter your features in some small way so you do not look exactly the same. Do you have an idea what you are here to change? I never leave the Department, having my own apartment attached to the Time Room. "

Biting her lip, she tells him, "I think I am here to help figure out a way for the Slytherins to have more options. If this time frame is anything like the time frame I am from, then they are never given any choice but to turn evil. What if there was another way? I want to try, I just don't know how."

Smiling, he responds, "First off, you will need to return to Hogwarts. What house were you in?"

"Gryffindor," comes her answer.

Looking thoughtful he replies, "That's not going to be much good, Gryffindor and Slytherin are at each other's throats."

"I was thinking, maybe if I 'transfer in' I can get resorted and ask the hat to put me in Slytherin? Would that work?" Giving a shake of her head she mutters, "I cannot believe how easy it is to talk to you, I don't even know you."

He chuckles, "I have that effect, I am a minor empath. Which means people often feel comfortable with me for no reason. I have to believe that in this situation that it is why you were sent to my room rather than anywhere else." Looking around he continues, "Time is a fragile thing, just one wrong move can change the lives of thousands. I don't want the Wizarding World to become how you have described it, yet I never leave here, I would have no idea how to change things. I think the reason you are here is to do that. I think time heard my wish, and you're the answer. But I also think that you had to be wishing the same thing too, or at least something very similar."

She nods, "I was, Harry," she shakes her head, "Harry has been under so much stress, so much pain because of him. Then there is everyone else that I have also known who has been hurt. The entire Weasley family, Snape, the Potters, and so many others I do not know. I just wanted to find a way to make it less, their pain, to help them."

He nods, "I think you have a way, let's go back to the Time Room. I have a feeling everything you will need will be in the closet there."

Nodding the two of them stand up, as soon as they do, their trays vanish. Startled, she almost jumps out of her skin before he leads her away. Sure enough, when they get back to the Time Room he opens a small closet and within it is a medium sized box. Inside of it is her wand, clothing, books, a potion with runes on the label instead of words, and papers leading up to her current point in life. Shaking her head at the vastness, she is startled when the papers give her an address to use for her home, along with the deed to the place in question. There is also a small pair of matching arm bands, one that is obviously bigger. Before she puts it on she reads the paper that had been with them.

-Hermione,  
These are jump bands. They will allow you to move between the Chamber of Time and the cottage, listed for your home, you place one on your arm and think about which one you wish to be in to move, two people can travel with them at the same time. When it is time for you to return to your own time, replace the bands into the box, this way they can be used for any person in the future who needs them. Remember things done as Jade Zeit will be just as real as things done as Hermione Granger. Good luck in your quest, may you find what you need.  
Ayumu-

Chuckling to herself, she realizes that Ayumu has given her everything she needs to be successful in this timeline. Now she just has to put the things to use. Curious, the two of them place the bands on their arms and think about the cottage. It is the first time Zarab had left the Department of Mysteries since he had arrived there years before. Startled, he glances around the cottage, adjusting to the bright sunlight as Hermione explores her new home.

The next few days fly in a blur as she prepares to take her fifth year again, she will be one of the oldest people in it, yet it seems like it is the best thing to do. Zarab, bounces back and forth between the Time Room and the cottage, helping her as much as he can. She can tell that he takes the idea of being her guardian very seriously. When September first finally arrives she is nervous about it, after all it will be a completely different Hogwarts than the one she had left.


	3. Chapter 2: Arriving At Hogwarts

_Hermione's POV_  
Boarding the Hogwarts Express is unusual to say the least. She had no one to see her off, no one to sit with, and no one with whom she knew. In many ways, it is as bad as the first time she boarded the train when she was a first year. Yet, in many ways it is worse. At the same time, she feels hope for the future. Hopefully she can make minor changes that would make things better in the long run.

Once she is on the train, she takes a seat towards the back in one of the empty cabins. When a set of loud young men come barging in, she keeps her eyes on them. She recognizes the uniform as those in Slytherin house, though she does not know who they are. The last one to enter the compartment, she knows on sight since it is Severus Sanpe. Younger, lankier, and less confidant, yet definitely Snape.

The group does not notice her until they go to sit down.

"Who the hell are you?" the loudest one demands.

A close look at him makes her suspect he is Sirius' brother Regulus. She raises an eyebrow, deciding not to answer. The first rule of dealing with Slytherins is not to show emotion in her time, she figures that has not changed much from this time frame.

Looking startled, he repeats himself, "I asked who the hell you are?"

Rolling her eyes, she looks out the window, continuing to ignore him. Finally, one of the others that she does not know raises an eyebrow back, "Don't mind Regulus, he's a bit brash like a Gryffindor. Who are you?" his tone is polite, curious even, "I am Damian Avery, this is Even Rosier, Severus Snape, and Regulus Black."

Smiling, she replies, "Jade Zeit, I just transferred into Hogwarts this year, I was home schooled."

Avery looks her over, taking in the plain colored robes, curly dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and rich tan skin. If a person had stood her next to herself normally they would see a resemblance but would not be able to pinpoint exactly what it was. It was perfect, because she still looks like herself yet she does not and most of it was in the skin tone being different and her eyes being a little lighter. She had been reassured that her eyes would not become that color when she returns to her time. She knows that with everything going on with Riddle and the first war, that blood status is considered highly important at this point.

"Zeit?" he repeats, she smiles to herself as he tries to figure out if he has ever heard of that family. Motioning to the blokes to sit down, he sits down next to her, while the other three crowd into the other side, however, since they are all pretty slender at this point in their growth they are able to fit. "So why are you coming to Hogwarts now, if you have been home schooled?"

Tilting her head sideways, she waits for a moment, thinking about it before answering, "My mother has fallen ill and can no longer continue my teachings so she decided it was time for me to go to school in order to complete my learning."

"And your father?" Avery inquires politely.

She shrugs, "Don't know him, he vanished before I was born, and Mother is not inclined to speak of him."

Avery nods, glancing about, before shifting his attention to the others and asking in turn how each of their breaks went. She falls silent and watches as the train flies down the tracks. Her mind is whirling as she takes in details and facts. They are very formal, she notices, which means that she will have to rely on the etiquette classes that her mother had insisted she take between third and fourth year. Apparently, those classes were about to be really useful.

About half way to Hogwarts the cabin door slides open and a ill-looking boy poked his head in. She was almost startled to see Professor Lupin until she remember that he was in the same year as Snape.

He does a quick look over before stopping on her, his eyes slightly wide when he realizes she is there. "They aren't bothering you are they?" he asks, his voice not as hoarse as she is used to.

She looks at him with a small smile, "They're not bothering me, they've been polite enough to welcome me and tell me of the school. I am new after all, hopefully everyone I met shall be just as polite." Inside she knows she is telling a small lie to a teacher, but he is not her teacher yet, and she is telling mostly the truth. They had been polite to her and talking about the castle once they got past the introductions.

He looks around at the group again, and nods, "Well if you need anything just give a call and I will be here as soon as possible." With that he shuts the door and leaves but she gets the feeling he doesn't want to.

The rest of the ride passes smoothly, and she waits until the rest are off until she gets off including the blokes in the compartment with her. As she walks up to the carriages, Avery spots her and asks her to join himself and the others. He sends Regulus to ride in the carriage with some of the other Slytherin's and she is not surprised to see that there are very few people who sit with people in other houses.

Professor McGonagall spots her as they get out of the carriages and walks over to her, "Miss Zeit?" the strict teacher inquires. She nods, "You will wait with the first years, I realize that you will be a fifth year student but you need to be sorted."

She nods and follows the professor to where all the first years are waiting. After listening to the professor's welcoming speech which has changed little apparently, she stands there patiently and waits for all of the first years to be sorted. Like in her time, the sorting hat sings a song before it does the sorting. Once the first years are sorted, Professor Dumbledore introduces her and she comes out to be sorted as well. When she sits down, the hat is settled onto her head.

_Why, I have already sorted you once, but not yet because you haven't been born. How different. Why do you wish to be resorted when you are already a Gryffindor?_

Frowning, she focuses on the hat, thinking, _I want to make a difference, that won't happen from Gryffindor. I need to be in Slytherin._

 _Slytherin? For a muggle-born? Are you sure that's wise? Ah I see the history you have in this time ine, here you are an unknown which gives you a perfect chance to make changes. Very well, I will put you there, some day we will need to speak of this._ "Slytherin!" the sorting hat yells.

Sighing, she hands the hat to the professor and heads over to Slytherin table where the blokes from the train greet her and offer her a seat. Sitting down, she notices that the seating is done almost in order of rank among the social standing. Once she is seated, Professor Dumbledore stands and makes his yearly announcements before everyone begins to eat.

After the welcoming feast, she follows the older Slytherins down to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room. She is surprised that each person gets their own small alcove like room, though she can understand where it would be useful. Shortly after everyone gathers, Rabastan Lestrange gives a small welcoming speech, introducing the upper students to the lower and partnering them up. Despite the fact she is a fifth year, she is partnered as well in order to make sure she is comfortable. Too bad she is assigned Snape as her partner, cause she is sure he is not happy with that idea.

That night after everything is done, she goes to bed casts wards on it from inside once the covers are pulled. As she goes to bed she thinks about the sorting hat's song and wonders what it is supposed to mean.

Another year has begun  
Students come and listen on  
Pain and sorrow will be the price  
Unless the four great Houses can unite  
Each has it values and worth  
Hufflepuff-the loyal  
Ravenclaw-the thoughtful  
Gryffindor-the bold  
Slytherin-the cunning  
Unite I say  
To stop the pain and sorrow from spreading


	4. Chapter 3: First Day of Fifth Year 1975

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, any reviews or comments would be greatly appreciated!

_Hermione's POV_

First thing the following morning she studied her new schedule.

 **Monday** : double Potions 9 am-11:55 am, Lunch, double Defense Against the Dark Arts 1 pm-3:55 pm, Ancient Runes 4 pm-5:55 pm  
**Tuesday** : double Transfiguration 9 am-11:55 am, lunch, double Charms 1 pm-3:55 pm, Arithmancy 4 pm-5:55 pm  
**Wednesday** : double Herbology 9 am-11:55 am, lunch, History of Magic 1 pm-1:55 am, Astronomy theory 2 pm-3:55 pm, Ancient Runes 4 pm-5:55 pm  
**Thursday** : double Transfiguration 9 am-11:55 am, lunch, double Charms 1 pm-3:55 pm, Divination 4 pm-5:55 pm  
**Friday** : double Potions 9 am-11:30 am, lunch, double Defense Against the Dark Arts 1 pm-3:30 pm, Arithmancy 4 pm-5:55 pm  
**Student Advisory** : Astronomy Star Viewing is based on weather, so be prepared to do it as needed

Shaking her head, she wonders if she hasn't taken on too much, but she is determined to do the best she can. She had also decided to try divination with Seer Thonlan Eddings just to see if it was any better than the divination from her own time. After all, travelling through time, meeting someone who changes the course of history, and working with someone who studies the effects of divination and time has caused her to wonder if there isn't more to the subject.

Besides I've already taken potions, transfiguration, herbology, and charms, she thinks, listing most of the base classes, I am sure that they will not be greatly different.

Since the first class day is a Tuesday, she grabs her books on transfiguration, charms, and arithmamcy to put in her book bag that she had spelled lightweight as soon as she had got it. She doesn't like having to go back to the common room in between classes to get her stuff. Instead, she make sure she has it with her. When Severus comes over to her at the end of breakfast, to show her to class, he seems startled by how full her agenda is.

"Ten classes?" he inquires, "Don't you think it is a bit much?"

She shrugs, "Well, Divination is just to try it out, I don't know if I will actually stay in it or not, but I really love arithmancy and over the summer I got into ancient runes."

He shakes his head, saying nothing, and leading her to class. In truth, she probably knows the school better than he does, but since she is acting like a home schooled student, she figures it would be best not to let him know that fact at this point.

The day goes as she expects for the most part, calm with very little happening until right before dinner. As she is leaving her arithmancy class, she spots a pair of boys walking behind Severus with their wands drawn. Even though she can't hear them, she has a general idea of what they are planning based off of the things she has heard in the common room the previous night. Just as the taller one of the two lifts his wand to jinx Severus, she jerks her wand out of her sleeve and mutters a tripping jinx, slashing it at the two of them.

Yelping, the taller loses concentration on the spell he is casting as he goes tumbling to the floor, his partner with him. Severus hears the noise and jerks around, ready for a fight but smirks instead when he sees them on the ground.

Frowning, Hermione stops after she has passed them and turns towards them. In her bossiest voice she informs them, "How dare you? I had heard that there was a group of Gryffindor bullies but I had hoped that was a mistake after everything positive I had heard about Gryffindor. You two should be completely ashamed of yourselves! Now get the hell out of my sight."

The taller one is the first to his feet, grabbing his wand, he turns as if he is going to walk away but instead attempts to cast a spell at her. Reflexes kick in and she deflects the spell, then hits him with a body-bind curse before he can even try to cast again.

Eyes blazing in anger she levels her wand at the other one as he stands up. Her voice is a low hiss of anger, "I do not tolerate cowards and bullies. I don't know who you are and I don't care. That behavior will stop and it will stop now. Do I make myself clear?"

He nods, picking his wand up and releasing his friend from the bind, "Come on Sirius, I don't think we want to fight this witch. She seems moody."

As the two walk away she keeps her wand ready, but drops it back down to her side before tucking it into her robe sleeve and heading to lunch without bothering to say anything to Snape. She knows that there is going to be a confrontation between him and her and wants to avoid it for as long as possible. Upon getting to the dining hall, she heads over to the Slytherin table though it takes a mental shake to remind herself that she is not supposed to go to the Gryffindor table. At the Slytherin table she sits down and smiles when a plate of roast with vegetables appears before her along with a helping of pudding. It never fails to amaze her how well the house-elves take care of the students.

"So, Miss Zeit I heard that you knocked Sirius Black and James Potter on their arses, reflected a spell cast by Black, and body binded him all within a short period of time. Is it true?" This is out of one of the older Slytherin's boys who name she doesn't remember.

Taking a bite of her roast, she waits a moment before answering, "I did. I cannot stand bullies or coward. That's what their actions were."

Most of the house is talking to each other, spreading the news of the new girl who can jinx as fast as the Marauders two biggest bullies.

One of the girls from her year inquires, "Why would you hate bullies if you were homed schooled?"

Turning her head to look at her, she replies, "Simple, that's what Riddle is and look at all the havoc it's causing in the Wizarding World. Just because I was home schooled doesn't mean I am ignorant of current events."

Almost every single one of the upper year men stare at her. Some in anger, others in shock, and some in horror. No one called him by his name like that, particularly not someone from Slytherin. Might as well start the ball rolling now, Slytherins respect power, it might not be the wisest move to start before getting herself established but she refused to back down now. That was not why she was here.

Before anyone else can say anything, Headmaster Dumbledore is standing behind her, "Miss Zeit, I would like a word with you in my office."

She wipes her face carefully, taking a deep breath before standing up. "Yes sir," she knows that she will probably be rude to him, but at this point she is rather pissed at him. In her own timeline he has allowed and even encouraged Harry to do many risky things, in this timeline he is allowing bullies to cause massive rifts between the houses. Riddle might be the main problem, but Dumbledore is not helping matters any. Giving a shake of her head, she concentrates on trying to clear her mind the way Zarab had taught her during the summer break while she was getting ready to attend classes.

Following the Headmaster to the tower, gives her plenty of time to clear her mind, and while she will not claim to be an expert at it, she was getting good at it living in Slytherin. When they reach his office, he motions for her to sit down while he takes his seat behind the desk.

"Miss Zeit, do you know why I have asked you here today?" his voice is kindly, but questioning.

Giving a small smile, Hermione nods once, replying, "I have an idea as to why."

For a moment neither says anything, then he motions to her with a wave of his hand, "Continue."

"I am here because I jinxed two of your favorites. They deserved it and I do not regret my actions." She responds, most of her concentration is on maintaining a cool pool of water within her mind incase he decides to try Legilimens.

The Headmaster says nothing for a time, instead he watches her for a moment. Most of the sparkle that normally fills his eyes is gone. "How did they deserve it?" he finally inquires.

"They are bullies. No better than Riddle, and you for allowing it are just as bad." For a moment she pauses, trying to decide what else to say, he seems to sense this and waits for her to finish. "When a pair of wizards decides to jinx someone with their back turned they deserve to be tripped. As far as Sirius goes, he shouldn't have tried to jinx me. I retaliate without any difficulties."

The Headmaster appears to be in shock, though that does not surprise her. After all, how many people actually stand up against him, particularly among the students? She knows that when she returns to her own time that her views on him will be different but she has not quite figured out all of the details yet. In this timeline, however, she is sure that they are not going to be allies because she cannot stand how the Marauders are allowed to be bullies without any sort of real punishment.

Sighing, he finally says, "You are blunt. I have a feeling no matter what punishment I hand out to you, it will be worthless because you do not see yourself as being wrong."

She shrugs, not bothering to reply. If he plans to punish her then she will just deal with it. Otherwise, she has homework to do and a plan to work on. Trying not to show her impatience, she waits for him to dismiss her. Finally, he does so, sighing and muttering something about stubborn witches.

Heading to her dorm room, she carefully wards her alcove before sitting at her desk with a pile of blank parchment, quills, and ink. After completing her first days written assignment for transfiguration, charms, and arithmancy she begins working on her plan for changing how to affect the war. Each item on the list is carefully considered before being added and the end results is something that makes her smirk. Each heading is given its own color so that she can easily transfer them into new papers and begin adding details to them. When she is done for the night, she stretches and goes to bed, making sure to carefully lock all of the parchment away so nobody could 'accidently' find it.

It's not going to be easy, she thinks as she lays down in her bed, I have just over four years to accomplish my goal. Actually a little less because I spent the first few weeks here getting ready, shaking her head, she gets comfortable. Maybe, just maybe, it will be just enough time to be effective.


	5. Chapter 4: Halloween 1975

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who have left me kudos, I look forward to hearing what people think of the story.

_Hermione's POV  
_ The next few weeks pass in a blur for her as she works through her ten classes and planning what she is going to do next. One of the most important things she has to do on her list is find a way to earn money in order to make a safe haven for those who decide to not to follow Riddle or Dumbledore. She has decided to use arithmancy as a method to figure out how much money she will need, how big a property to begin with, and who to approach in what order. Of course, she plans to redo the calculations several different times to make sure that she has it right.

By Halloween, she has managed to earn over twenty galleons plus several extra sickles and knuts. While she knew that will not be nearly enough for what she wants to do, it was a start. Of course, to her advantage, she knows how to make a variety of hair potions that don't exist yet, so she is able to sell them. Very few of her classmates are willing to try and take the time to figure them out for themselves. The fact she is getting a reputation for being fair and not playing tricks helps her to get paid requests despite the House she is in. Within her own House, Snape makes most of the potions.

Halloween starts off rather smoothly, classes all going easily. Potions under Professor Slughorn are far easier than she is used to which allows her to easily get a head in class. By the end of class, she has completed her work and is creating an inventory of all of the things she will need in order to make this week's potions for sale. As she is leaving the class to head to lunch, she observes one of the oddest events she had seen since getting here, if one goes by behavior.

Regulus is flirting with a Ravenclaw girl who is a known half-blood. While it might not seem like much, it's odd for someone who is all about blood purity to do. Disillusioning herself, she stands back and observes to see if he is serious or just casually flirting, because this can give her a way to change his mind from joining the Death Eaters for now. By the time the flirting is done, she has a gut feeling that it is serious and cannot help but smile to herself. Apparently, there is a new person to add to her list of people to approach.

Giving a shake of her head, she waits until they have left to finite the spell and head to lunch. On her way to the lunch table she greets several different Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The first few times she did so, they had been greatly startled, now they are getting used to it and many are greeting her back. Upon sitting down, she greets the others of her House, both those who like her and those who do not.

Many of the older students in Slytherin were not sure what to think of her. After all, she was a home schooled student thrown into their carefully believed world with a complete different outlook. From their view, they know that she dislikes Riddle as much as she dislikes Dumbledore, but believes that there should be options. Like all good Slytherins, they are waiting to see what happens before making a choice. Even those who originally thought that they only had one choice are beginning to watch and wait as a second develops.

Over lunch conversation flows smoothly, many still asking her about her life prior to coming to Hogwarts which she answers without problem. Others ask about her potions and she just smiles, replying that she is not the inventor, just someone who is good at creating other people's brews if she knows what she needs. Like normal, by the time lunch is done, she has more people thinking about what she has to say. To her that, is the first step in making things work, they have to be open to the idea.

Right after lunch she has DADA today. Today's topic is suppose to be basic defensive measures, and the class is purely discussion and theory. The instructor, Professor Hawklings, loves to have the class take the first part and create different lists and ideas. Then spend the second part of the class debating them and determining which might be the best. This is one subject she is particularly good at due to her time in the DA and helping Harry. Not  that her classmates know that. Those who want to be her partner do so because she since she is fast to cast and easy to work with.

That night during the Halloween Feast and Ball, she watches as the people around her enjoy themselves. Everywhere she looks, she can see couples and friends hanging out, having a good time. Despite that, there is an undercurrent of tension running through the room and its occupants. Through the course of the evening, she is asked to dance by several of her fellow Slytherins, along with a couple of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that she has been working to befriending. To each she agrees and then spends the dance either in peaceful silence or making small talk depending on who it is. With each dance not with a member of Slytherin, she can feel Dumbledore's eyes on her.

Finally, when people began to file out, she is free to head out to the lawn by the edge of the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake. Frowning in  concentration, she uses her wand to carefully sketch the runes she can remember from her book studying in the Time Room for the Halloween Gate. She hopes to make a protective magical circle that she can use for casting. Once the circle is cast, she begins to chant, hoping that her plan will work. As the full moon peaks above her, a wave of power seems to rise up from the circle.

The next thing she knows, she is no longer standing on the Hogwarts grounds. Instead, she is back in that garden that she had been in just months before prior when she landed between the worlds. Looking around, she is surprised to see that she landed where she wanted to.  

She is lost in thought when she hears, _Why hello Hermione. I did not expect you to return here_.

She smiles, happy to hear someone say her real name before answering, "I came to ask you for help. Training really. I figure you probably know warding and oaths very well, so I am hoping you can help me develop a ward to protect the properties I wish to purchase as a safe haven. The oath is so I know those who are part of the cause are truly loyal. If possible I would like them tied together."

Ayumu smiles, tilting her head to the side, _I don't think anyone has ever asked me for help like that before. I will gladly accept teaching you the old ways of warding._ For a moment the keeper falls silent, etching several runes in the air. A small pendant appears around her neck, it's silver with golden dust much like a time turner, only in the shape of an egg instead. _There we go, when you have free time, hold the pendant and say_ _grădină_ _galaxiei._ _It will bring you here. The beautiful thing is since I am the Keeper of Gates, I can ensure that you end up ten minutes after when you vanished._

Walking over to the sitting area within the garden, Ayumu takes a seat and motions for her to do the same. _We shall begin with simple warding of a small area. The spell is_ _inel de protecție._ _To cast it, these are the runes that you need._ Her hand moves slowly through the air etching them carefully. _Now you do them._

For a moment, she thinks hard on what Ayumu just showed her before she attempts the runes in the air.

Ayumu gives a small shake of her head, re-etching the runes and making the air glow as she does so.

Nodding once, she tries again to copy the  older woman's movements, this time getting them right.

 _Once more,_ Ayumu tells her as the keeper watches her doing the motions carefully. When the older woman seems to be satisfied with it, Ayumu directs her, _This is the next one. The spell is_ _paravan_ _, this is a personal shield, it has more force than a_ _protego_ _spell._ Slowly the white-haired woman creates the rune, making them light up so she can see each line and then waits for her to etch them. After a bit Amuyu states, _this is the last one I think we should cover today, it's_ _descânta_ _it is much like_ _finite_ _._

Once Ayumu thinks she has it, she has her switch between the three rune spells repeatedly. For a long while she practices until Ayumu finally tells her, _I believe you have it._ _Inel de protecție_ _is used for warding areas such as a room or area. Once you have practiced them in your world for a while I will teach you the next one in the series that is designed to protect buildings, there is also one that protects entire properties, and the final one in the series is designed to work off of an object and move with it, though that one is the hardest . You will not find the runes in any book, however you may record them if you would like as a teaching tool. Now I think it is time for you to return home._

Smiling, she thanks Amuyu for the help right before she vanishes into the either. The next thing she knows, she is back in the ring that she created on the Hogwarts property. Sighing, she sits down on the lawn and stares out at the water, thinking.

What am I going to do now? She thinks to herself, I have the beginnings of the new warding spells, and a new set of runes to learn. Plus I still have acquire the property that I will be warding and get it all set up so that it can be used as a safe haven. Perhaps, if I can get several properties nearby each other I can turn them into something like a village so that as more people are rescued and brought in, it will be more like living in a community rather than being trapped. Yes that is a perfect idea, I need to go run the equations on it.

After coming to that realization she stands up and heads inside. She is not far from the doors when she sees a small girl with dark hair staggering through the hall with blood on her clothes and tears running down her face.

Concerned, she carefully approaches the girl, taking a moment to call her name to mind, "Mary? Mary Macdonald? Here let me help you to the infirmary."

At first Mary shrinks away from her, terror clear in the girl's eyes, but after a few minutes Mary seems to realize that she means her no harm. It takes her a little bit to get the injured girl to the infirmary, but once she is there Madam Pomfrey takes over.

She sticks around long enough to discover what happened. When she hears Mary saying that some of the older Slytherin boys had did it because she is a mudblood, fury rushes through her and takes off before Madam Pomfrey can say anything to her.

In a rage, she returns to the Slytherin common room where she finds Snape, Mulciber, Avery, and several other drinking by the fire while BSing. She listens just enough to know who is guilty. Before they have a chance to say anything to her, her wand slashes through the air at Mulciber, and the next thing he knows he is thrown against the wall on the other side of the common room. The others can only stare at her shock.

"I thought I made myself perfectly clear about bullies Jacob. I have no tolerance for them and will not tolerate that type of behavior. Let me give you a little lesson on why it's not good to piss me off." Another slash of her wand has him trapped in a full-body bind, while a third flick has his body covered in a stinging jinx. While her spell casting is not silent, it is not shouted either, merely muttered to herself. "I don't care what a person's blood status is, leave them the hell alone. If they start the fight, fine, finish it, but do not go picking them. I realize that the only reason you're doing it is to follow after your daddy's footsteps but I can tell you with all honesty that's not really a wise choice since Riddle will fall and when he does your father will ended up sitting in Azkaban. I know this for a fact, so I offer you this thought now: consider well whether that is the right choice or not to make, because there will come a time where there will be four choices. The choice to join Riddle and eventually fall. The choice to join Dumbledore and get a headache from the hypocrisy of it all. The choice to run and avoid in hopes of surviving, of trying to stay out of it. The choice of joining neutrality where both dark and light are expected to act with balance."

When she is done giving her snarled speech, she turns to the others in her year and higher, locking eyes with each of them. Waving her wand indifferently in Jacob's direction and releasing him. Once the spell is releases he can't stop panting, the stinging jinx has left his entire body aching.

"I hope you all understand me." She tells them before she strides into the dorm rooms and to her alcove. After closing the curtains she uses her new rune spell to ward the area, along with several other protection spells before going to bed. Tomorrow will be soon enough to deal with the after effects of her burst of temper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spells are Romanian, they are translated as:  
> grădină galaxiei =garden of the galaxy  
> inel de protecție = protective ring  
> paravan = shield  
> descânta = disenchant


	6. Chapter 5: Day After Halloween to Christmas Break

_Hermione's POV  
_ The following morning as she wakes up, she turns her attention to the future. In her memories, one of the death eaters fades with a different person taking his place. Instead of having a British accent it is German. Some of the other are wavering, there forms not as solid in her memory. Those that are wavering belong to Lucius Malfoy, Damian Avery, Rabastan Lestrange, and Victor Crabbe. Well that's interesting, I guess it's important to keep working at their loyalties, she thinks.

Getting up, she uses the bathroom and bathes before getting into her plain black robes with her slacks and long sleeve shirt below. Grabbing a journal that she spelled for privacy over the summer, she writes out the changes from what had been to what would be. Afterwards, she heads up to breakfast. When she gets up to breakfast, a flurry of conversations is going on around her. Most of the students fall silent when she walks in. Jacob stands and waits for her, while the others of the group keep an eye on her as well.

Raising an eyebrow, she stops directly in front of him, her arms tucked into her sleeves. Minutes pass in silence. She is well aware that nearly the entire hall is paying attention to them.

"I comprehended your message last night. Rather well." He finally tells her, his voice low so others cannot listen, "Did you mean what you said about the Dark Lord falling?"

She nods once, "Indeed."

"How do you know?" his voice is serious, solemn.

"A woman I know can See the future, the past, and even the present. When it was first decided that I would come here, she told me about it. It is her hope that I can hopefully help with the situation." She replies, tilting her head to the side and watching him with narrow eyes.

Nodding once, he murmurs, "What would you have me do? I am backed into a wall."

"Think for yourself, rather than for your father." She replies before nodding at him, and side stepping toward the table.

He nods, returning to his seat as she takes hers. The entire hall seems to come back alive at the end of it, as the conversation resumes twice as loud.

Sitting down, she digs into her breakfast. Since it is a Saturday, she plans on completing homework, doing research, practicing her new rune spells, and working on potions to sell. Even in this time frame she rarely pays attention to Quidditch which gives her lots of spare time. After breakfast, she stands and heads back into the dungeons to the small classroom that she had remembered from the Marauders' Map. Since it is abandoned and not used, she has taken it over as her place of privacy and where she works on her potions and spellcraft.

Many knew where her private room is. Often times those who wish to purchase some of her potions will come down in order to discuss them with her. Today she has several cauldrons of pimple cream, hair solution, and shampoo to make. As she is cutting all of the ingredients to use and placing them under stasis, a knock at the door has her calling out a welcoming.

When Jacob walks in, she glances up only long enough to recognize who it before going back to work. "What do you need?"

He looks around for a moment before sitting down on a stool. "You meant what you said, last night and this morning?"

She nods, finishing her ingredients, then grabbing a pair of cauldrons, and setting them up. "I always mean what I say. Right now I am working on creating a place for those who wish to take that fourth path."

He nods slowly, "You realize that I have to think about this some more? It's not an easy choice. My family," he shakes his head sadly, "my father serves the Dark Lord. I am expected to follow in his footsteps."

Again she nods, this time in understanding, "I am not saying it will be easy. However, it's a choice that you will have to make." As she starts to brew the first cauldron, she falls silent for a few minutes, concentrating. Once thing are to a point where she can start the next, she continues, "Do you bow down to a half-blood bent on domination who doesn't care for those who serve him? Do you attempt to avoid the situation? Do you make a stand for yourself? Do you find a cause to support?"

Once more she stops speaking as she works on the potions in front of her. Time flies, and it is nearly complete before she looks up, catching his eye. "I will always remain neutral, not the neutral of avoidance, but the neutral of there must be an even amount of light and dark, the neutral of balance. If you ever wish to talk, I will listen." Removing the potions from the flames, she walks over to where she keeps the containers and grabs several, "I will not tell the others."

He nods, turning to leave, he stops by the door, turning slightly towards her as he comments, "Thanks," then walks off, closing the door behind him.

Smiling, she turns her focus inwards to what she knows from her time. No longer is he a death eater in the future, in fact he vanishes right after seventh year, rumors run rampant as to what happened to him. Now she just needs to work on some of the others, but she knows that it won't be successful until she can guarantee them somewhere safe.

The next several weeks pass in a blur as she combines planning, schooling, and building friendships. After her defense of Mary, the two girls become fast friends despite the fact they are from different houses. Once they become friends, others who were leery of befriending a Slytherin decide to risk it as well. This means by the beginning of Christmas break, she has invites to stay with several different people from three of the four Houses, only Gryffindor does not hold a friend for her. That is something that she finds completely hilarious when she considers the fact she is originally a Gryffindor.

Grinning as she thinks about, she packs her things to return to the cottage. Zarab will be waiting for her when she gets to the station. Luckily, she has sold the last of her potions the previous day, so she has some extra funds. It amazes her how often people pay for things of those natures and how much they are willing to pay for privacy just to get pimple creams or other personal care products without it being advertised.

Anyways, she has several plans for the season. Including getting the wizarding money converted to muggle money so she can purchase the beginnings of her properties for her project. Since she knows the formula for Sleekeazy's Hair Potion she is contemplating selling to those who run Sleekeazy in the future.

Hmmm, that would be highly useful, if done right it could even be profitable. Alright then, I think I will do it, she thinks as she pictures the old labels and comes up with the information she needs to sell them the potion.

Getting on the train, she finds herself sitting with the same group of Slytherins that she had originally sat with on the way to Hogwarts. As they chat about their plans, only her and Snape remain silent with only the occasional comment towards the others. When the others try to get them to talk, Snape scowls and replies that he does not wish to discuss his private life, while she smiles and answers it's for her to know and them to try and figure out.

When the train finally pulls into the station, she grabs her stuff as she gets off and looks around, spotting Zarab almost instantly in his black robes with changing silver hemming. Grinning, she bids everyone she is friendly with farewell and joins him. A moment later they are in the Department of Mysteries Time Room, moments after that they are at the cabin. Her holiday time has just begun, it's time to start putting things into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Publishing schedule, I will update one or two stories on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
> 
> Tumblr about my writing [JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/money)
> 
> I love reviews, comments, and any other sort of communication, feel free to stop in to say hi


	7. Chapter 6: Christmas Break 1975

_Hermione's POV  
_ Her first day of break is spent relaxing and visiting with Zarab. He is curious as to what changes her actions have made so far in her own timeline and she has no problem telling the Keeper of Time about it, knowing that he will not interfere with events as they unfold. On the second day of break, over breakfast she decides to ask Zarab about going to Diagon Alley.

"Would you mind if I go to Diagon Alley for a while today? I want to purchase some Christmas gifts for the various people I seem to be befriending." Pausing, she looks down at her plate thoughtfully, "Also, if I purchase a bird for delivery could I leave the bird with you when I fade if I can't find something else to do with the bird?"

Blinking, he tilts his head sideways, "Ummm sure, but I don't know anything about taking care of a bird."

She chuckles softly, "Well most of the wizarding birds are easy to take care of. Make sure they have a food and water dishes,  access to outside, and they pretty much take care of themselves."

Nodding, he answers, "Alright, I can do that. I am sure that there is a charm for food dishes that can make sure that there is always food..." his voice trails off, giving a shake of his head he continues, "Do I need to come with you?"

Grinning, she shakes her head no, "Nope, I should be fine. I learned some new shielding charms that are useful."

Smiling in relief, he answers, "Good, good, good. I need to get some work done so I will be at the Department. You have your armlet?"

Lifting her left wrist she lets the sleeve pull back showing it.

He nods before activating his and leaving.

Shaking her head she cleans up then focuses on Diagon Alley, the Leaky Cauldron and apparates. She's not sure where she learned to do so, but it is something that she woken knowing in this time frame. When she first solidifies, she is woozy, as if she had motion sickness, but it passes quickly. Smiling, she looks around and decides to start with her shopping by stopping at the Magical Menagerie in order to see about acquiring a raven or other bird of similar nature. While she had contemplated an owl, she decides something different is more to her tune.

Upon first entering, she looks around to see if there is anything there that would work for her. Unfortunately, none of the animals she sees calls to her. Sighing, she remembers how Crooks had picked her, not the other way around and glances around for the clerk. When she sees the man coming out of a room, she watches for a moment to make sure he is not helping someone else before approaching him.

"Excuse me sir," she murmurs, touching his sleeve lightly.

He jumps slightly, muttering in response, "Oh! I am sorry, I did not notice you. What can I do for you miss?"

Smiling at him warmly, she inquires, "Do you have any other birds? I do not want an owl, and none of these birds seems just right for me, you know?"

He nods, looking at her carefully, "I have other birds in the back. However, they are for those who are serious, not for those who just want a delivery system."

For a moment she considers it. She knows that she will be here such a short time compared to the birds life span. Yet at the same time, she really wants to see if there is one that is right for her. Perhaps if there is, there is some way for her to either freeze her bird in time or find someone to take care of it for her that would be worthy.

"I would still like to see them," she finally answers with a firm nod.

He smiles, leading her through the door, into a small magical hall, and out through another door. When he opens the second door, the room she enters is amazing. It is setup to mimic different parts of the world with an area like a forest, another like a swamp, a small area like a desert, and a fourth like a jungle. That's what she can see from the door, however there is a path dividing them and leading farther in.

"Wander around or find a place to sit comfortably. You will feel drawn to where you should be if one of these birds is what you need," he instructs her. He then leaves the room, and shuts the door behind him.

Smiling, she wanders towards the back and finds an area that mimics the highlands of Scotland where she plans to set up the safe zone. Spotting a bench, she decides to sit down and watches as different birds fly around. As she sits there, a small bird comes swooping down to land on a stand just feet from her. It appears to be silvery white, with cream, brown, and black markings. Something in her, tells her that the bird is not done growing. Mesmerized she holds her arm out and is startled when it flutters over to her, landing on her wrist. It is slightly heavier than she expected but she smiles wider, gently brushing her finger down its back.

"Ah hum," the man cough, catching her attention as he appears next to her. Startled, she fingers her wand, then shakes her head. "That is a silver gyrfalcon, beautiful bird, long life span, they get to be as big as owls, loyal as well. She is still young just learning to fly so long flights would take her time."

Hermione glances at the bird, then at him, thinking to herself. A gyrfalcon, they were considered the royal hunter for years, they are also the bird of choice in deserts as well even though they are dark tones there. It would be a perfect symbol, a predator who is balanced because it is a fierce hunter, yet loyal to its family, and mates for life. Perfect! "I would like to purchase her, and whatever else I will need for her."

The man nods, and motions for her to follow as he goes back into the primary part of the shop. Once there, he gathers several small bowls, boxes of food, a book on gyrfalcons, heavy gloves, and a perching stand. Placing them all on the counter, he also collects a large cage as well. "Your total is twenty-five gallons, eleven sickles, and two knuts."

Digging the money out of her purse, she hands it to him before asking, "Is there anything against me having her on my shoulder while I am shopping? This way she can spend some time getting used to me."

Startled, he glances around before replying, "You can, just be careful. As she gets bigger the habits learned now will be her habits for life. She will be as smart as or smarter than an owl."

Smiling to herself, Hermione shrinks everything down before placing it into her bag. After leaving there, she heads to the Owl Post to rent an owl to send a message to the potion director of the company who would make Sleekeazy in her time frame. While she waits for a response she finishes her shopping in town, spending most of her remaining money on her various gifts. She had just returned to the cottage and settling Annon in when the man in charge of sales for the company she approached about Sleekeasy has a message delivered to her with a small brown owl.

Opening the missive, she sees that the man wishes to meet with her in order to discuss her offer. Grinning, she grabs a pen, asking the bird to remain for a few minutes. Replying, she says that she will be in Diagon Alley at Madam Peri's Café at noon, he is welcome to join her for lunch. Retying the letter to the owl's foot, she hands him a treat as well before it takes off.

Humming, she returns to wrapping her gifts so that she can send them the following day. When she is done with that, she decides to make supper because it is well past six pm and she is getting hungry. Once the food is in the stove, she uses the jump bracelet to return to the Time Room in order to tell Zarab that dinner is nearly done. He nods, finishing up what he is doing before the two of them return to the cabin. Once at the cabin, she pulls the food out of the oven so they can eat.

Over dinner they discuss how her day went and what he was doing with his. When they are done, they retire to their respective rooms. For a little while she plays with Annon before she is tired and goes to bed.

The following morning she is woke up by Annon pecking at her hair and flapping her wings energetically. Yawning, she gets up and lets Annon out to fly around as she wants while setting up a food and water dish for her. While Annon is out, she gets cleaned up, showering and dressing for the day. Upon finishing getting ready, she goes into the kitchen to find a plate full of fresh bagels under stasis, a jar of jelly sitting next to it, and a note from Zarab telling her he is in the Time Room.

Shaking her head, she goes back to her window and calls for Annon. A few minutes later, she comes swooping in. Grinning, she hands Annon a treat and then asks her if she can deliver the packages to each of the people for Christmas. Annon chirps looking at the name on the first and carefully picking it up before flying out the window. She cannot help but chuckle, and leaves the packages by the window in order for Annon to take them to their destination.

While Annon is off delivering packages, she got to work on making a thing of the Sleekeazy for the representative. By the time it is done, she has just an hour before she is due for the lunch meeting. With that in mind, she gets cleaned up and focuses on the apparation point. A few minutes later she is walking into the café that she had specified for her meeting. Not long after sitting down, a mildly overweight gentleman is shown to her table and takes a seat across from her.

"Miss Zeit?" he inquires, as he pulls the seat out.

Hermione nods, "Indeed, Mr. Vandercarr," she stands long enough to shake his hand before the two of them are seated.

For a few moments the two of them exchange the required pleasantries before getting down to business. "According to your message you have a formula for a hair potion that you would like our company to purchase from you?"

Taking a sip of her drink, she nods once replying, "Indeed."

"What makes you think that it will be successful or that we would want to buy it?" he asks politely.

Smiling, she responds, "I already sell three to four cauldrons of it a week to the sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts, since break has started I have also gotten several requests by owl post for it from girls' family members who have discovered it through their student family member. I do not have the time or inclination to make a successful business of it. However your company already sells a hair products and other beauty care products, so it would be logical for you to add to the stock."

For a few minutes she lets him think on it before she reaches into her purse and pulls out a pile of envelopes before passing them to him. "Read these, if you would like testimony to the effectiveness of it. These are just some of the requests that I have had for it, I have more back at the cabin. If you would like, you can even contact some of my classmates to ask them about it."

The next forty-five minutes is spent discussing the purchase of the potion and the contract to go with it. By the time they are done with lunch, they have ironed out an agreement which includes a five thousand gallon buy out for the formula and rights to it, plus a royalty fee of two knuts per sale for the next twenty years to be deposited into her Gringotts account. The paper work will be delivered to her the following day to go over in order to sign as needed.

Once that is done she heads to Gringotts in order to see how one would set up the automatic processes. She is on her way out of Gringotts when she spot Mulciber and an older man that she assumes must be his father walking in. Inclining her head in greetings, she keeps on moving, however as she does so, the older man asks Jacob something and as she passes he grabs her arm. With a speed born of practice, she zaps him with her stinging spell and has her wand re-hidden before he knows what hit him.

"The polite thing to do is to verbally ask me to hold a moment, grabbing my arm on the other hand is not." Her soft hiss of anger carries no further than the older wizard but he catches on quickly.

A dark look crosses his face as he responds, "I'm not some child to be messed with."

Smirking, she replies, "Are you sure? That was definitely a juvenile action." Pausing she glances between the two before inquiring tightly, "What did you want?"

Startled, the older man jerks his head back and glares at her, before motioning to Jacob.

Jacob steps forward answering her, "I wish to thank you for the solstice gift."

"You're welcome Jacob. Now, I need to be on my way, I have a schedule to keep. Good day." Before they have a chance to say anything else, she walks away. As soon as she can, she ducks into an alley and uses the armband to return the cabin. When she gets there, Annon is on her perch and a letter is on the desk that she has for doing work. Once she is done checking it for jinxes, curses, and other spells she opens it to discover that it is a very silted letter of thanks from Snape.

The following days until Christmas fly by. She receives the paperwork and had reviews it before asking Zarab to also review it. Once it's determined that everything promised is in it, she signs it and has Annon take return it. She also manages to talk Zarab into staying at the cabin for Christmas so they can celebrate it together. Zarab, who has not celebrated a Christmas in years, seems baffled by what to do but manages to get a small vial of _Felix Felicis_ for her as a gift. A small pile of presents also appear as well, mostly from her housemates but a few from some of the other students that she has sent gifts to.

Happily, she enjoys the season, even as the back of her head has the running thought that she is running on borrowed time in the wrong time frame. However, she refuses to dwell and spends only a little time over the first week working on it.

The week after Christmas is spent with her in Muggle London working to purchase several pieces of old property using false documents. By the time winter break is done and she is returning to Hogwarts, she has acquired more than fifty acres of land that she can work on over the summer. Because of how large it is, she will be able to start the small community set up that she desires, making multiple safe houses and one large safe zone. Whenever she feels she has some free time, she bounces between making the hair potions and the Time Garden where she visits with Ayumu and works on her spells.

As she boards the train to head back to Hogwarts, she reflects on the fact that it was a really good winter break. While she had not spent all of her time working on her projects, she has made headway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who is curious: Annon is Japanese according to a name site that means Harmony or Balance


	8. Chapter 7: Duel in Slytherin House

_Hermione POV  
_ Upon reaching Hogwarts, she heads to the New Year feast with Annon on her shoulder. She had carefully checked the school rules before she left to see if that is allowed and it is as long as her familiar did not actively cause a disturbance. Smiling, she takes her spot at the Slytherin table, greeting all of the people she is friendly with as she passed them.

When Snape pass her, he stops to stare at Annon. Since several others have done that as well, that's not all that odd. The shocking part is the fact it's Snape doing so. Normally he has better self control about things he is curious about.

Standing, she lifts her arm, balling her fist. Annon takes it as a sign to hop from her shoulder to her wrist and stands there watching. "You can pet her if you would like, very careful strokes on her spine, her beak is sharp if she thinks you're being annoying." She is speaking from the experience of the first three days she had her and had touched her in the wrong spot or too hard.

His hand slowly lifts, brushing down the gyrfalcon's back once before he nodding at her and sitting down in his seat. A lot of their other housemates also want to touch her, but she tells them not until after they return to the common room.

Dinner goes smoothly, everyone eating and chatting about their vacations or what they did over Christmas break after Dumbledore completes his reminders. After dinner, she walks back to the common room with several of the first and second year students, answering questions about her new falcon. When they reach their destination, she takes a seat in one of the arm chairs near the fireplace. Without having to ask the falcon to shift to her leg, the bird does so, watching each of the children with her sharp eyes and lightly chirping impatiently.  

"You can pet her carefully, like this," she demonstrates, narrating each motion so that the children can see and hear her.  

The smallest first year girl is the first to step forward, her little body nearly shaking with excitement as she reaches for Annon slowly, letting the bird see her every motion. When she is done, the rest of them line up to take a turn, each careful in how they approach and touch the bird of prey. Eventually some of the older children decide to join and third years join the queue. Only a few fourth years decide to pet Annon with the younger students. For a little while no one touches the bird, but eventually some of the others touch her as well, wishing to feel her feathers. A few of the students who hadn't walked down with her ask questions about the falcon, listening to the answers in fascination it seems.

Eventually the cliques begin to form up, each having their own topics. Mny discuss things about their breaks they had not wished to say in front of the headmaster, teachers, or other students. At some point in the afternoon, someone brings up Riddle, and a discussion of blood purity begins, drawing the groups together so close to the entire house is part of the conversation. Part of her marvels at how smoothly the conversation goes, because she knows Gryffindor would never be this calm for such a large conversation.

Through most of it, she stays quiet, listening to the false statements and declarations. Internally she is rolling her eyes and shaking her head, because some of it is patently foolish. Blood purity determines strength? Now that was one of the biggest loads of shit she has ever heard. Some of the weakest wizards she had ever seen were pure bloods, just as some of the strongest, herself included were muggleborns and half-bloods. Pure bloods learn faster? Again, bullshit.

Since she is beginning to get pissed off, she decides it might be a good time to return to her dorm room and stands, moving Annon to her shoulder as she does so.

"What? Too much of a coward to hear the truth?" Rabastan Lestrange, the main Riddle supporter sneers as he notices her leaving the room, "Too afraid to say something because you know you're wrong?"

Narrowing her eyes, she murmurs "Return to your perch," to Annon. Following that, she turns to face him, a small, deadly smile on her face. If Harry or Ron were here, they'd be backing away quietly because that smile normally means someone is going to have a bad day dealing with her.  "I have never been, nor will I ever be a coward. However I believe I have already made myself clear on the matter of blood status and Riddle. Would you like to make this a formal event? Perhaps a duel, the one to win the duel may try to convert our fellow housemates to their beliefs, the loser may not actively seek to convert others. Under a wizarding oath, however, to insure that the deal is upheld." She replies in a soft dangerous tone.

While she is good due to everything happening in her time frame and her training with Ayumu, she's not sure she's a match for him but is determine to make a point.

Besides, she thinks viciously, there are several spells she's been working on and that Amuyu taught her that she wants to try against a living opponent in this world.

Several long minutes pass in silence as everyone in the common room watches and waits with rapt fascination. Even the most energetic of students, the ones that are rarely quiet or still, wait with baited breath.

Finally he nods, replying, "The forbidden forest or the quidditch pitch?"

Which would be better in the long run? She ponders, considering the merits of both. Probably the forest she decides. Lifting her head slightly, almost defiantly, she answers, "The forest," there is a brief pause for him to nod in agreement before she inquires, "the bonder?"

"Severus Snape," he answers nearly instantly, "he is neutral in our conflict."

A small smile curls her lips, it is perfect for her. "Agreed," she responds.

Minutes later, nearly all of the fifth, sixth, and seventh years have left the common room and quietly sneak out to the edge of the forest. Minutes after that, they are in a clearing that is well known as a place to have duels. It's not something that is done in her time, at least, not as far as she knows.

All of the Slytherins surround the trio, watching quietly as the events unfold. This is not the typical type of duel, she hears some of them saying, trying to come up with the last time a duel like this took place, and failing. Even those who love the history of dueling can't think of any other duels like this one.

She watches Lestrange through narrow eyes as Snape takes his place between them on the left hand side. Slowly, all three raise their wands. As required, she allows the tip of hers to touch Lestrade's as they begin the spell process.

Her voice is firm as she states, "I, Jade Zeit, do swear on my magic that the winner of this duel shall be allowed to attempt to sway people to their side in the war, that the loser may not attempt to sway anybody to their side, and that the loser must consider the winner's view with complete honesty and lack of bias. This I swear until September 1st of 1976."

The tip of her wand glows softly, a light shade of gold.

Her opponent glares at her for a breath before stating, "I, Rebastan Lestrange, do swear on my magic that the winner of this duel has the right to convert people to their beliefs and side of the war, the loser may not attempt the same and must consider the winner's view with complete facts. This I swear until September first of 1976."

The tip of his wand glows, a vibrant shade of blue-green.

"I, Severus Snape, witness and seal this binding, the rules of the duel are simple: no killing each other, no permanent damage, no outside interference, and the duel ends when one cannot continue." He intones, touching the two glowing wands with his, the tip turning a vibrant shade of indigo.

Stepping back, Snape shoots sparks from his wand. That is the signal to begin the duel.

Murmuring the spells softly, the first thing that she does is a combination of the two shield spells. The classical one that everyone knows on the surface, and then the one she recently learned underneath. In her pocket is a small, well shined amber that has the second shield anchored to it.

The group surrounding them places their own shields of protection to avoid getting hit with anything that might go astray.

Then, in a flash of magic that burst as it connects, the two of them are going at it. Spells are flying back and forth in a volley of color, some bouncing off their shields, others clashing together in explosions of light, some going wild.

Eventually, she runs out of patience for this display. She can still remember when she practiced shielding spells with Ron and Harry and they accidently overwhelmed them, the aftermath of doing so. That will be a perfect way to end it. To do so, she darts closer together as she casts her strongest spell at his shield thrusting hers forward at the same time. It completely overloads both shields, exploding in a fiery ball of energy lashing outwards. Since she's expecting it, she drops her second shield, letting the power wash right through her, having discovered that not tensing allows it to move without causing the exact effect it has on Lestrange. He's thrown across the circle, knocked unconscious by the force of the backlash.

She stands still, her wand held loosely in her hand at her side, as she watches Snape check Lestrange and declare that she has won. A pleasant warmth seeps through her for a moment before fading. Those surrounding the ring are surprised when she steps up, nearly silently doing a general diagnostics spell on him to make sure that he has not been injured, before waking him up and offering him a hand.

Shaking his head, he accepts with a dazed expression on his face.

With surprising quietness, the entire group returns to the common room where they each return to their evening. Soft conversation fills the air. Speculation and disbelief has many of the discussing what happened. Others are silent as they think about what just happened and whatever else is on their mind. It means that the rest of the night is surprisingly smooth and peaceful.

Returning to her dorm room, she grabs her journal for changes, taking the time to fill out everything that comes to mind before tucking it away again. After checking to make sure Annon has everything she needs for the night, she wards the area around them before going to bed. She is sure there will be aftermath, but for now, she's going to sleep, that is something to worry about later.


	9. Chapter 8: Conversation with Snape

_Hermione's POV  
_ The rest of the week goes smoothly, little to nothing goes wrong.

Apparently, Rabastan has decided to actually attempt to consider what she had to say or the oath is making him, because he corners her two days after their match, asking her to explain what her views are in detail. After their conversation she quietly slips out of the area while he is considering what she said. Particularly since she did not spout off about good being so much better than evil, blood status, insulting those involved in the situation. Instead, she had maintained that there must be balance between the two, that blood status is not a good indicator of power or ability, and how each of the faction leaders is alike and different, their beliefs, and what she knows about them.

On Friday she is on her way to arithmancy when she spots Snape dodging into a side room. Startled and curious, she decides to take a closer look, and is surprised to see him meeting with Lily Evans from Gryffindor. Smiling, she backs away to give them their privacy, but not before she hears Evans wish him a happy birthday.

With a shake of her head, she places a couple of gentle wards on the door, that way no one can get in because they will feel they need to be elsewhere. As she finishes her walk to class, she decides that this must be part of the reason that he hates Harry so much in their timeline. After all, she is certain he would not risk the problems that being the Gryffindor's friend causes otherwise. Especially since he has been groomed to be a Slytherin and act accordingly, which means he's not supposed to like or be friends with anyone not a pure blood, and Evans is a muggleborn.

Well then, maybe things were not as bad as they could be then. Sighing, she enters the class and turns her mind away from her personal project and Snape in order to think about her school work. Even if it is not going to mean much in the long run, she still plans to do her best. Besides, she would retain the knowledge which will make things far easier in the future when she starts combining the two timelines.

After dinner that night, she is on her way to her normal mediation spot when Snape stops her by stepping in front of her with a glare.

"Why did you ward the door?" he demands, voice low and angry with a touch of confusion.

She tilts her head to the side, watching him and seeing traces of the teacher that she will come to know. Despite the fact that they have been housemates for the last several months, he is one of the few that she had not dealt with outside of the classroom and the assistance that he has given there. Due to their lack of real communication, she is not sure how to answer him.

"Well?" he demands as he steps closer in order to try and intimidate her.

Should she tell him that his intimidation now is nothing on what it will be? Nah, better not. Her lips curve in a small smile at the tactic as she replies, "Well what? I saw that you were going for privacy. I know what those four idiots from Gryffindor are like. I also know that at least two of them are sniffing at her robes, so why wouldn't I help a housemate who wishes to have a moment's peace with her?" Stepping closer, she continues to speak, "Besides, I strongly dislike bullies and did not wish to see them start their bullying just because you are having a moment with their female friend. Who I am guessing has been a long time friend of yours as well based off of what I have heard in the common room."

For a moment he does nothing more than stare at her. Apparently that is not the answer that he expected. After a studying her for several moments, he steps out of her way and begins to walk away however he pauses when she starts speaking.

"There is a chamber near my brewing room that you could use for your private meetings if you would like. I can ward it so no one who means to cause problems can get in." She offers softly, waiting to see what sort of reaction he is going to have.

He spins back towards her, an edge to his voice as he snarls, "Why?"

She shrugs as she answers him, "Because I dislike bullies. This way you can have your private time without fear of idiots breaking in. I can have some quiet time where I know that the idiotic four will not be causing problems. She can visit with you to your heart's content." Pausing, she takes a deep breath, "however do make up your mind already, I have other things to do."

It takes him a several more minutes to think it over and respond, but he agrees, grudgingly appreciating the idea.

With that settled, she continues on her way, charming herself unnoticeable as she continues on her way to her spot. When she gets there, she takes the time to look around and make sure no one is around before using her pendant to return to the Keeper of Gates. It's time for her to get a bit more practice in, she's quite sure that duel is not the last of them that she will have to deal with. Best to be prepared.


	10. Chapter 9: Valentine's Day 1976

_Hermione's POV  
_ Over the next several weeks between when she had offers Snape use of the small room and Valentines, there are several different times that he takes her up on the offer. Most the time it is with Evans, but sometimes it is when he wants quiet. Despite his best efforts, he has not been able to determine how she is warding the room and that is something that she finds reassuring since they are some of the same wards that she planned to use on the community as she works on it over the summer.

Nearly every night she visits Ayumu to learn and work on new spells. All of the spells the Keeper of Gates teaches her are in a language similar to Romanian, yet different. It feels as if it is older. According to Ayumu, only those sworn to neutrality will be able to use the Romanian spells, a fact she finds very interesting. Her own new spells combined Latin, Romanian, and German. Many of them fail, but those that don't she makes notes on in order to refine them. She's pretty sure this side of her nature would surprise the boys who think she is only book smarts. Maybe when she gets back to being Hermione instead of Jade she can teach them the spells. Ron would probably be good at spell making too with the fact he can be creative.

A few days before Valentines, she is surprised when Jacob approaches her about having lunch together on Valentine's Day. Since it's the first time someone has asked her on a date beside Viktor for the Yule Ball in her fourth year, it surprises her, leaving her speechless for a few moments as she tries to figure out how to say no thank you without it being insulting. While she believes they have become friends, or something like friends, since her offer of help, she is not interested in him in that manner. Truthfully, the one she is beginning to feel interest in is probably someone she never should.

"No thank you," she replies softly, "I would not wish to give a false impression that there could be something between us when I am not interested."

To her pleasure, he nods and smiles wistfully, "It's alright, I sort of expected you to say no."

That evening she makes sure that she hasn't wrought any big changes, at least any that she can see.

Valentine's Day happens to be on a Hogsmeade Saturday which means all the people who can go as couples do.

From her own house, most of the blokes take girls in their year or a year below rather than go out with someone from a different house. However, there are a couple of them that went with others. One of them is Snape though he tried to act like it's nothing more than a meeting with a friend. Anyone who knows him knows it's more serious with Evans than that.

Shaking her head at all of the couples and people who were going on a date yet trying to act like they were not or vice versa has her wanting to laugh hysterically. She figures that's probably not be good idea, so she holds it in. Instead, she heads into Hogsmeade in order to have lunch and is surprised when a group of her non-Slytherin friends decided to commandeer a part of the Three Broomsticks. They shove several tables together for non-coupled people to come and hang out. Even more surprising is the fact they invite her and several of the Slytherins she often speaks with to join. It's surprising because she is aware of the bad blood and hard feelings from years of issues between them. Despite any misgivings she might have about the idea, she decides to join the group because it is exactly what she has been telling the others for months. That it is important for people of different backgrounds to work together. However, while there are Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws at the table, there is not one Gryffindor within the group.

For a while she visits with the group, joking and talking with anyone who wants to, so she is surprised when Jacob and Avery take the seats on either side of her, scaring those who were originally there into moving over a bit.

The table becomes deathly silent as the group glances between her, Jacob, and Mary. Even the younger Slytherins who were originally invited stay quiet as they watch the events unfold.

From his spot next to her, Jacob turns to face Mary and inclines his head politely. Not an apology per se, but definitely an acknowledgement.

It ends up being her getting everyone back to the jovialness it was before the two Slytherins showed up by making a formal introduction between Mary and Jacob, then deciding to play round-robin with the other introductions.

That breaks the tension since she uses goofy facts about each as she does it. Once the tension is broken, everyone goes back to chatting the way they had prior to the two Slytherins sitting down.

Glancing between the two, she cannot help but give a questioning glance.

Jacob is busy attempting to be polite to Mary, while Avery smirks at her in answer to her questioning look.

"Since you decided not to go on a date with our friend here, we decided to join you at the singles table instead." His smirk grows. "Besides, aren't you the one who says we all need to get along better?"

Chuckling, she gives a small shake of her head. "Indeed I do, this is unexpected however." Pausing, she looks around for the rest of the group of Slytherins that normally stick together and is surprised to only see Rosier with a date, the rest of them are nowhere in sight. "I hope that the rest of our year mates are behaving?"

Smirking, he gives a deep throated chuckle as he replies, "Of course, even those who wish to take over the world enjoy a day of romance."

Laughing, she grabs her drink and discreetly checks it before actually drinking it. The rest of the day goes rather smoothly, if a bit odd. For the most part she visits with those at the table, but keeps an eye on Mary and Jacob in case things get out of hand. She is pleasantly surprised to see the two of them talking honestly, even if Mary is a bit nervous which is only to be expected considering their history.

As the end of the day approaches and everyone heads back to Hogwarts she keeps an eye out for any problems which is probably a good thing when she spots her least favorite Gryffindors falling in behind Snape and Evans as they return to the school.

Discreetly, she moves up behind them, pulling her wand and inquiring, "Now why do you look like you're going to cause trouble?"

The four of them spin around, Black and Potter already have their wands out. Lupin is watching her cautiously as if he does not want problems. Pettigrew is twitching up a storm, his hand on his wand, but his wand not drawn.

"You realize I am a school prefect?" Lupin curiously asks her.

Rolling her eyes, she shrugs, replying, "That does not mean you stop them from being bullies, it just means that you allow them to get away with more."

Black pipes up with, "If we're such bullies how come we never get in trouble for it?"

She snorts, answering, "Simple enough, you're also the headmaster's pets, of course you'll not get in trouble." Glancing between them, her tone becoming scathing as she continues, "Besides, I never said you were stupid, for the most part you make sure not to do anything where you can be caught."

Of the four, three of them look offended by what she says, the fourth merely looks thoughtful. It doesn't surprise her that it is the werewolf in the group who is thoughtful, but it does still annoys her. Glancing around, she notes that almost everyone else is gone, the problems that she had desired to short circuit have been avoided for one more day, or at least for this trip back to the school. Inclining her head, she nods to Lupin before walking past the group and on her way back to the school. She is not surprised in the least when she feels a spell hit the shield she had erected as she pasted them, and spins around, firing off her favored stinging spell as she does so.

Both Black and Potter are struck by it, their wands clattering to the ground as it makes contact with their nerves. Pettigrew tries to fire a spell a her, but fails miserably when she reflects it back with the shield. The last one from their group standing is Lupin who is staring at them like he's not sure what to do.

"This is also why you never get caught, most the time you attack a person from behind, a coward's attack. The whole lot of you are no better than Riddle." She snarls as she turns and walks away.

Upon returning to the school she heads straight for her dorm to relax and spend time with Annon. It would be better if she could take her outside, but she cannot so instead she reclines on her bed and spends time with her bird there.

When she is done, she takes the time to view the future and the changes made. There is little there but what is there is the fact that Mary vanished but doesn't die as far as anyone knows. This is a good sign since originally she had died shortly after graduation at the hands of the Death Eaters.

Perhaps things are coming along better than expected, she just can't tell how much sometimes because there is so much she had not known.

Shaking her head, she works on her revision before going to bed, the next day is Sunday. It will be the perfect time to speak with some of her housemates about what is going on in the political world right now. Maybe she will be able to win a few more of them over to the side of neutrality rather than dark or light.


	11. Chapter 10: Learning the Oath

_Hermione's POV  
_ In the weeks following Valentine's Day and leading up to the Spring Break, time seems to rush by. Her nights are spent in one of three ways: making potions, working with some of the other students, or studying with Ayumu. Several times she finds herself having very serious conversations with sixth and seventh year students who are trying to decide what to do with themselves. Rabastan Lestrange has already decided that he would prefer to remain neutral, his problem being the fact he is already promised to Riddle, leaving him in a bind.

During one of her visits to see Ayumu, she broaches the subject with the Keeper of Gates, hoping the older woman will be able to assist.

"Ayumu?" she inquires as she finishes with her practice for the night.

 _Yes?_ The white-haired woman replies, mildly distracted by something.

"Is there a way to insure loyalty that will not interfere with other oaths per say but still keep them in line?" she asks her mentor, voice full of curiosity and concern.

Ayumu turns her gaze towards her, a thoughtful look crossing the older woman's face. _Indeed there is, however it requires that balance must be maintained. Why do you ask? Is one of the younglings considering your offer bound by another?_

She nods, sighing and responding, "Indeed, a few of them are expected to submit to Riddle, and while some of them can avoid it, others have too many family members to do so."

Smiling in understanding, Ayumu replies, _It is not an issue. I will teach you a perfectly useful oath that will work towards your goal. It will maintain the balance while insuring that they remain loyal._ Focusing, the older woman remains silent for a moment before starting to etch the runes in the air. Ayumu seems dissatisfied with the first set and clears them away with the wave of her hand. _Do you have a name for the group already?_

Tilting her head, she considers it for a bit before answering, "I was thinking of something to do with stars since they are good examples of neutrality."

Ayumu nods thoughtfully, _Well then, how about this, Order of the Cosmic Star?_

A slow smile splits her face as she considers the implications. Cosmic for everything within nature, star for the neutrality that she seeks. She doesn't wish to be like Riddle with his speeches of hate and anger, prejudice and fear, a man who promotes evil even as he tries to hide it as good. She doesn't want to be like Dumbledore with his false promises that good is best and always wins, because she is quite sure that is not true. Both pure good or evil upset the balance that she is quite sure nature enforces, which is why both sides win from time to time before the other side rises back up. If things are kept in better balance, there probably wouldn't be as many dark lords as there has been.

 _This is the spell I suggest., It's a bit longer than most, but each line is represented by two glyphs each. The spoken spell does not have to be said in tangent with it or you can have them swear in their native tongue to the oath_. Ayumu explains calmly, before showing her each of the glyphs.

 _Stele de foc, de ardere lumina._  
_Ne harul în noaptea mistuitoare._  
_Promisiune cosmică mă căuta._  
_Adevăr, neutralitate toate, dar blând._  
_Jur să fac pentru a susține echilibrul._  
_Pentru toate actele fel, crud trebuie să urmeze._  
_Cruzimi adevăr și bunătate să fie._  
_Acum, până la acest jurământ să fie eliberat._  
_Eu, prezinte acest jurământ să aibă loc._

_After Eu have them state their name, binding them within the oath, the magic will still accept it even if they give a false name and bind it to them, it will just recognize them by that false name. For instance if the one you call Snape is to swear the oath and say his name is Harpy, the spell would consider him named Harpy forevermore and you could summon him using that name._

With that example in mind, she cannot help but chuckle because she has told Ayumu of his behavior in both timelines and Ayumu had likened him to a Harpy, intelligent but with a bite that it takes lots of effort to get past.

 _I must caution you: this can be used on anyone willing to take it, whether they have magic or not. It will affect them accordingly. In mages, there will be a strong compulsion to maintain balance, so if your youngling does something unspeakably cruel, the magic will compel him to do something of kindness that will make him balanced._ Pausing, Ayumu looks thoughtful as if debating what else to say, eventually she continues to speak. _I will say that it is not appropriate to try and punish someone with this oath riding them. After all, it will force penance for crimes committed far better than anything a mortal could think up. I must also say that a good person who starts to lose balance with nature will be forced to rebalance themselves either in doing something evil or by not being able to do anything good and only able to be neutral._

She listens carefully, nodding and replying, "I understand."

For the next several hours, she spends her time in the garden practicing the runes until she can do them with her eyes closed, one hand behind her back, and either hand. She also practices the words in the oath until she can repeat it everytime without fail in English and it's original Romanian. Once she feels comfortable with the runes and spell, her mind turns to the rest of that conversation. She will be able to summon a person who've sworn the oath? How? Is it similar to how the Dark Mark can  be used to summon a person? Best to ask.

"Ayumu, how can it be used to summon a person?" she inquires curiously as she repeats the runes with her left hand absently, finishing the last practice run.

Blinking, Ayumu glances over at her in surprise, _That is simple enough. For those with magic in their blood, they know to go to the person calling for them, you can make a physical representation of the bond on them in either the form of a tattoo or a piece of irremovable jewelry. That representation can be used to call them to your location. Or for the time you will be gone, your seconds. Though you will have to decide who that second will be before then._

Pulling up the memory of the only time she had seen the Dark Mark at the end of her fourth year, she inquires, "Like this?"

Ayumu takes a quick look into her mind, observing the Dark Mark and nodding slowly. _Exactly so. That one is made using the dominate blood paths. Yours will be through the soul paths instead. Truthfully, the soul paths are far stronger than the blood paths. I believe that Riddle ties his blood paths to the recipients magic, which is a minor part of the soul._

She stares at the immortal in shock. Mind carefully replaying and comprehending exactly what Ayumu means. Did the immortal know all of that from the shared memory or did the immortal look into Riddle's history using their shared memory? Does Ayumu see everything through a vision or is there some other way that the Keeper of Gates knows everything that she does? It's something for her to ask about at some point in the future, but not today. Today she focuses on the current lesson, and the information it brings with it.

Eventually she nods in understanding.

 _Whom do you plan to swear to you first?_ Ayumu inquires as she cleans up for the day.

"I was thinking either Jacob or Rabastan, possibly both at the same time or back to back." Giving a shake of her head, she sighs and remarks, "This is going to get harder I think, from here on out."

 _Indeed. It is good that you realize that now._ The white-haired woman praises her. Continuing on to suggest helpfully, _I suggest that your first bindings be under the light of a full moon or new moon as both represent balance in one way or another._

Again she nods, giving Ayumu a small smile as she bids the older woman farewell for the evening. A moment later she uses the pendant to return to the school. She definitely needs to work on the safe zone. There needs to be at least one safe house up and running before the school year is done. There needs to be at least one place where they can go and just be, one place where they are not forced into roles they may not want. One place they can take 'victims' to make them vanish without actually having to kill them.

Sighing, she heads back inside and to her bed.

On the way there she can't help but chuckle dryly. If this was her original timeline, Snape most likely would have caught her long before this. None of the current night watchers are as diligent as him.


	12. Chapter 11: Easter Break 1976

_Hermione's POV  
_ Spring Break goes much the same way as Winter Break had. The biggest difference is instead of spending her time purchasing the properties, she spends the time finding contractors to work on it instead. Luckily for her, the price of building an average size home is reasonable, even cheap when compared to the prices in her own time line. After exchanging some of the gallons she has from the hair potion she sold, she has plenty of money to have the place built, and done so effectively and quickly.

It's during one of her trips into muggle London that she literally runs into Snape while he is walking with a slender, older woman she can only assume is his mother.

"I'm sorry," she tells him politely, stepping back as she realizes who she ran into. "Sorry about that Snape."

Snape scowls at her, the woman with him glancing between them curiously.

"Who are you?" the older woman asks, her voice has that soft tremble that comes from living in fear, something she has heard plenty of times from the students in her timeline.

Her eyes flicker between Snape and his mother, "I'm Jade Zeit. I'm in Severus' House and year. I transferred in at the beginning of the school year from being homeschooled."

Snape's mother beams at her answer, body relaxing, querying, "That's lovely, do you come to this side of London often?"

Smiling lightly, she replies, "Not too often. My family prefers to stay at home. Sometimes things are easier to find in muggle London than they are in wizarding London." Pausing, she glances between the two, there is a strong undercurrent though she can't determine exactly what it is. "I was actually about to look for somewhere to stop and have lunch. It's been a long day so far. Would you care to join me if you have the time?"

She's not sure what prompts her to invite them to lunch but feels that it will be the best idea she has had in awhile. The next several seconds are silent as Snape's mother thinks on the offer while Snape watches her through narrow eyes. They are both Slytherins. so that is not completely unexpected. After all, most Slytherins think only of their personal gain before they do anything else, even when dealing with friends. Of course, it's been commented on repeatedly that she doesn't act like a proper Slytherin at times. Particularly in regards to blood status. No surprise she would be different in this topic too.

"Well, I, ummm," his mother hums, giving a small shake of her head she organizes her thoughts in order to reply, "I am Eileen Snape. We would be delighted to take you up on that lunch. Though," Eileen frowns in frustration, "it will have to be something low cost."

Her smile grows, still perfectly warm, "No worries ma'am. I have enough for lunch for all three of us. Consider it a getting to know you gift, if you will. It's nice to meet you."

She shares an understanding smile with Eileen before the three of them turn to face the same direction and start walking down the street together. Eileen asks her questions about things they see, the two women window shopping until the come across a café that smells as if it has wonderful food. Quietly the three them make their way through the café to settle at a table that has a great view of all the doors. A waitress quickly approaches to see what they would like to drink and give them the menus in order to decide what they would like to eat. For several minutes the three of them leaf through the menus, making their choices. She can tell that Eileen is nervous about the prices, so she gives the older witch a reassuring smile, that it's alright. Eventually the elder witch relaxes and nods. The three of them making their selections and telling the waitress as soon as she comes back with their drinks.

Over the next two hours, she gets to know Eileen from the things said, and more so from the things not said. The conversation is mostly smooth and companionable, between her and Eileen as Severus stares at her in annoyance. Lips compressed in a thin line as he scowls at her. She has to bite back the smirk trying to form on her lips, Severus does not have Professor Snape's scowl yet, though she can see the beginnings of it in his current expression. Eileen ignores the hostility from her son, and continues to speak with her discussing everything the two women can come up with. They only bid each other farewell when they hear the sounds of a church bell ringing, announcing it is one pm. It's at that point that Eileen and Severus leave after Eileen gives her their address so she can write them using the muggle post if she would like.

Four days later, she finds herself back on the train to Hogwarts with a far clearer image of Severus than she had previously had. She had an idea from what she has heard in the common room that things aren't always as good as they could be in the Snape household, Now she has a feeling that is due to his father being an arse who doesn't appreciate the talents and abilities that his son and wife both have while he does not. She's aware that he is a half-blood, but not that the non-magical side of the family is the way it is. Now as she reflects on the information she has learned she wonders what else she has missed. Though in her head, he has shifted from Snape to Severus, even if she really shouldn't get attached to him like that. After all, she is only here temporarily, in her original timeline he hates her.

Sighing, she looks out the window for a bit. Since she is in her mind thinking, it takes her a few minutes to realize that Snape has joined her in the compartment.

"You know, I think you know more about me than the rest of our House put together," he comments as he scowls at her once more.

She shrugs indifferently. It's not something she plans on discussing or a topic she wants to let him know she is thinking about. Particularly since she was just considering his home life, and what she can determine from his behavior. Nope, not happening. Instead, she decides to stay silent, knowing that her ability for hiding things is not as good as the other Slytherins ability to do the same thing.

Eventually he growls, "What do you plan to do with that information?"

Shrugging again, she responds, "Nothing. I have no reason to do anything with it. It does explain a lot about your personality."

Like the previous meeting, the glare he sends her way is almost comical because it lacks the power that his glare would later invoke. At this point, he is still the same in the future, still cold and angry, full of stiff formalities except for areas where he is not. Yet something seems off, she just not sure what it is yet. The rest of the ride back to Hogwarts is smooth. Their group had joined them shortly after the conversation is complete. Each asking after their breaks or going on about how theirs was.

When the train gets to Hogwarts, everyone disburses to their respective place of choice. Since she prefers to put her own things away, she heads down to the dungeon dorm rooms. There she gets Annon's perch set back up and places all of her proper dishes out for her as well. Then she gets the rest of her charmed items put in their proper places so that all she will need to think on are where things are at.

As she leaves the common room, she enjoys the silence of walking through the dungeons until it is suddenly broken by a loud scream. Palming her wand, she heads towards the scream and is surprised to see it is one of the Hufflepuffs she normally visits with standing near the entrance to the hall that leads to the common room.

Glancing around, she tucks her wand back in her sleeve, inquiring, "What's wrong Mara?"

Mara glances up at her, eyes wide with fright, stuttering, "I thought I saw the Bloody Baron and it startled me." Looking around she gives a small shake of her head before continuing, "I see him all the time in the Great Hall, but down here where there is far less light, he is very _horrifying_."

Biting back a sigh of exasperation, she takes the other girl's arm and suggests, "Let's go to the welcoming feast."

Nodding hard, Mara turns towards the Great Hall and she joins her. The two girls chat amiably about their Spring Break and part when it is time to go to their House tables. At the Slytherin table, she takes her seat and is almost immediately surrounded by some of the most powerful Slytherins in the school. It is Rabastan that is the first to comment in a low voice so not be overheard.

"The Dark Lord is not happy with what you are doing. He was particularly not pleased with the Oath and duel."

She merely raises an eyebrow as if to say 'and'?

Avery is the next to comment from her left side, "We are to deal with you as an initiation."

"Are you sure he is going to fall?" Jacob inquires, sitting across from her.

She smiles a hunter's smile, at least that's what Ron once called it when she was being a bit vengeful about the DA charms, "You will do what you feel you must do. I will respond accordingly. I never expected him to give up that easily. If he had, he would not be where he is today. All I can say is I know for a fact he will fall. When he does there will be a mass roundup of everyone with the Dark Mark. That roundup will end with almost all of the Death Eaters sitting in Azkaban. Many going insane and losing all wealth from their family, in money, items and homes."

Discreetly checking her food, she continues to eat while the boys around her have a silent conversation that she is aware of even if she does not know what it is. Eventually they seem to come to a conclusion and go back to eating. It does not take a genius to realize that the conversation is not over, merely postponed for the moment.

Sighing, she reminds herself that every single one of them that turns from Riddle will lessen the amount of unbalance that is happening. Despite that, the politics of it all is very frustrating.


	13. Chapter 12: Slytherin Gauntlet

_Hermione's POV_  
The days following the feast go rather smoothly. Almost too smoothly considering what she knows is coming down the pipe. Every day she awakes to the question of: is today the day I have to deal with whatever the initiation is supposed to be? Once she gets past the initial question, she ignores them. Instead she focuses on her plans and school work. She will turn her attention to trying to win them over after they do whatever it is they think they must. Until then, it will be pointless to waste the energy.

Sadly, it’s not the Slytherins that end up starting her bad day. Instead, it’s the bloody Marauders. The Sunday following the welcome back feast starts out smoothly, calm even, and that’s how most of the day goes until right after dinner when three of the four Marauders decide to get between her and the door to outside.

Eyes narrowing, she takes in the combative stance of Black and Potter while listening to Pettigrew egg them on.

Well then, better me than someone else, she thinks, I have a bit more of a bite than most our classmates.

She sighs quietly as she tilts her head slightly to the side. She really doesn’t feel like dealing with them at the moment. Unfortunately, because the professors have allowed them to cause so much trouble over the years, they feel that it is their right and that’s probably not going to change any time soon.

When Lupin joins them, demanding to know what's going on, she runs out of patience. She casts her shields, glancing between each of them with fury in her eyes. "Would you like to know what your future holds, Marauders?" She snarls furiously nearly stalking forward so she is in physical fighting range, not that the three pure-bloods or one half-blood in the group would consider that a valid means of attack. "It's no less than what I have told the Slytherins who I have had to deal with for the last few months.”

She stops speaking to meet each of their gazes, eyes burning with emotion, her voice is a whip of anger when she speaks again, “Simple really, I never say who things will happen to thus I preserve the balance, but a warning is still given. Whether you chose to listen or not is not my problem at this point. I have other things to deal with."

Black apparently decides that she is bluffing because a hex comes flying from him as she stalks closer to them.

Barely paying attention, she allows it to smash into her shield before continuing to speak. "One of you will die. One of you will be a traitor. One of you will be declared a traitor when you are not. One of you will be nearly homeless. That's what awaits you outside of these walls. Pain, death, sorrow, loss. Your childish games mean nothing, and I mean nothing." Pausing again, she growls, "Now get the hell out of my way before I forget that I am being polite and respond accordingly to your stupidity!"

Lupin is smart enough to move out of her way. Pettigrew returns egging Black and Potter on again. Shaking their heads, they must think that she is lying or threatening them, because the next thing she sees is the two of them throwing hexes at her even as she passes them.

Spinning around, she slashes her wand through the air, her stinging hex taking out both Potter and Black together. It will not hurt as much but will still be very effective. Pettigrew, on the other hand, she gives a full dose of the stinging hex she has designed, allowing him to feel the same pressure as Jacob had just months before.

Turning away, she continues on her way outside, ignoring Pettigrew's screams, and the other two panting. She really isn't sure what his screams are about, the spell has already ended. But then, she thinks viciously, he always was a piece of work. Perhaps they will get the hint, but she doubts it. Only Lupin seems bright enough not to tangle with her temper.

For the next few hours before the sunset, she walks the edge of the lake and forest, taking her time to relax for the first time in a several months. As she is completing her trek and is getting ready to go inside, a flash of red slams into the shields she left up for protections sake. Turning, she finds herself facing most of the Slytherin House upper classmen emerging from the edge of the Forbidden Forest together.

"Do we have to do this today?" she demands, frustrated by pretty much all of the blokes in their school. "Really?"

Fanning out, they surround her. It's one of the seventh years she does not know who decides to speak first. "The Dark Lord is not pleased with what you are trying to do. Lestrange has been punished for his vow to you. Now we are to deal with you to show our loyalty. You're a Slytherin, you should have done what you were supposed to!"

She can't help but roll her eyes at that line of bullshit. "You agreed with the duel. Next time I guess I will make sure it is a house wide oath rather than just the person I am dealing with."

Since she doesn't recognize all of them, she knows she will have to think fast, particularly since she really doesn't like the odds. Of course, on the bright side, she will know how many people she can have hexing her shield without it collapsing at the end of this. That alone has to be worth something, though maybe not this headache.

Turning slowly, she takes everyone in the group in. Avery, Wilkes, Rosier, Black, and Jacob all seem to be in the circle. Along with nearly every fifth, sixth, and seventh year, that makes it roughly twenty to one odds.

Shaking her head, she glances between them before announcing, "You want to play tag? Fine, we'll play tag, but damned if I am going to do it lying down." Even before she finishes her sentence, she is slashing her wand through the air, her trademark stinging hex taking out the Jacob, Black, and Rosier before they even have a chance to pull their wands.

Ducking down, she allows some of the hexes sent her way to go flying past her and hit some of the other Slytherins not smart enough to avoid. However, even going low to avoid being hit, she doesn't forget to attack and sends a variety of other hexes sailing. Several rapid and tiring minutes pass before her barrier finally collapse, the weight of several spells hitting it at once. Growling in frustration she is hit by a cutting curse down her left side just as she manages to hex the last two into dropping their wands.

Tired, her legs give out as a wave of dizziness hits.

When all is said and done, the only ones to get to their feet are the blokes that she normally speaks with. Even then, they are slow to do so, her stinging hex being designed to leave a lasting impression.

Jacob comes over and offers her a hand up. "Well that was not what I expecting." He comments, looking around at most their House lying on the ground unconscious. "Do you need to go see Madam Pomfrey?"

She starts to shake her head no, accepting his hand up, but finds that it makes her dizziness worse. "How would we explain it?" she mutters just before blacking out.

When she comes to, she is in the Hospital Wing. Bright light is pouring through the outside window. Sighing, she rubs a tired hand across her face, slowly sitting up. Before she even has a chance to figure out what is going on, she's spotted by Madam Pomfrey who comes hurrying over.

"Miss Zeit!" The matron exclaims, "Are you alright? You gave us quite a scare last night. What in the world possessed you to take a nap so close to the Forest that one of its creatures was able to get so close to you that it took several of your housemates to deal with it?"

Reaching her hand around to her side, she gingerly traces the newest scar, wondering if it will appear on her body when she returns to her time. "I'm alright. I just wanted to enjoy the fine spring day. I hadn’t realized that my safety spells had failed. That must have happened while I was sleeping."

Shaking her head, Madam Pomfrey informs her, "Yes, well, you will be staying here tonight. You can return to the dorms and classes tomorrow. Mr. Mulciber has collected all of your missed work for today. You may look at it after dinner."

Nodding, she lies back down. She's still a bit light headed. Glancing around, she sees that she’s not the only one that is currently in the Hospital Wing and that several of the seventh years that she had hit with various custom spells were also on the beds. The one she finds funniest is the one who had been the group speaker at the beginning of the confrontation. She hit him with the bone spell that Lockhart had used her second year on Harry, turning his wand hand into elastic. What she doesn’t appreciate is when she spots Severus in one of the bed as well. He hadn't been part of the situation the night before, which means that the Marauders had done something stupid again.

Giving a small shake of her head, she chooses to take a nap and focus on the changes that have been made to the future. She is not surprised that there does not seem to be a great deal of change yet. However, some of the Death Eaters are changing in her memory, which means that she is able to convince a few more of the folly of their current path.

Well then, perhaps landing in the Hospital because of a massive brawl is not the worst thing to happen lately. After all, she now knows that her special shield would hold through over five minutes of intense hexing and curses by multiple people. She doesn’t want to know just yet how well it will work against fully trained death eaters, but for now, it's more than enough.


	14. Chapter 13: Slytherin Gauntlet : Aftermath

_Hermione's POV  
_ The following morning she awakes to Headmaster Dumbledore taking a seat next to her. He is sitting quietly, seemingly lost in thought as she slowly sits up to deal with him. After all, she is pretty sure she knows what he wants. Even in her time most of Slytherin House upper classes does not end up in the Hospital Wing without him commenting.

"Headmaster," she murmurs in greeting, wanting to get this done so she can get to breakfast.

"Miss Zeit, can I ask what happened two nights ago?" He inquires, skipping right to the point, his blue eyes staring directly at her.

Nodding once, she replies, keeping with the story the other Slytherins spun, "I fell asleep while sitting by the lake near the forest. Apparently my shields fell because some of the Slytherin blokes came to help me out when something emerged from the Forest. I didn't see exactly what the problem was, just that spells were bouncing off of it." Pausing, she shrugs carelessly, "It ran away soon enough but I don't think it was because it was hurt. I am sure it was because of how many of us there were."

Taking his glasses off, he carefully cleans them as he studies her, the sparkle that he is known for nowhere to be seen in his eyes. It's clear that he does not believe her or the others but he really can't question much more than that since there is no witnesses to the otherwise or proof they are lying.

"Well, my dear, if that is the story that you are sticking with, I will accept it." He takes a deep breath before continuing to say, "You realize that help will always be offered for those who ask here at Hogwarts?"

Hermione cannot stop herself from snorting at him. She just barely stops herself from actually replying to that remark. From what she had seen, help will only be given to those who he feels are worth it. How unfortunate for Slytherin House that he did not seem to think that they were worth it. However, that load of bull has just given her more reason to continue on her goal. She might be young but she is good at planning and has help from two different sources. She gets so lost in her thoughts and planning that he leaves without her noticing. The next thing she notices is Jacob standing there, smirking.

"Earth to Jade," she hears him say.

Glancing over, she realizes that she has completely spaced out. Smirking at herself and giving a small shake of her head, she spins around on the bed, hopping off it. "Is it time for breakfast?"

A smile plays at the edge of his lips as he shakes his head chuckling, "Yep it is. Come on space case, let's get going before Madam Pomfrey changes her mind and decides to keep you for an extra day."

She can't help but chuckle in response as she collects up her things and they head to the Great Hall for breakfast. When they get there, she is startled by the looks of caution on most of the Slytherin's faces, particularly those of the upper years who had been there for the other night's situation. Ignoring them, she takes a spot near the folks that she normally visits with and eats her breakfast.

When she is done with breakfast, she bids farewell to those whom she gets along with before heading down to the dorm rooms to check on Annon, gather up her things for class, and change clothes. Once in the dorms, she seals her sleeping area off with a ward and then strips down to check the scar that runs down her side now. Madam Pomfrey has done a very good job fixing it, there is barely a line. Sighing, she dresses before feeding Annon and telling her to go for a flight.

Annon chirps at her,  taking her time to carefully eat, and then flying through the owl tunnels to outside.

Smiling at the bird of prey's antics, she quickly figures out her schedule for the day. Luckily for her, she keeps most of her assignments done well in advance, so the work that she missed the day before only took a couple of hours to complete. She already has her things for today's classes ready though it's going to be a long day since she plans to visit Ayumu when she is done with dinner. Once she is done in her dorm, she drops the wards around her and heads up to class just before the bell rings. Despite the fine job Madam Pomfrey had done healing her side, it's still a bit tender she discovers as she enters the classroom and twists her upper body slightly.

Class goes mostly smoothly, though she occasionally feels like Professor McGonagall is watching her. As soon as class is over, she's one of the first ones to leave. In her time frame, she greatly respects the professor, yet in this time frame she has almost no respect for her. It's hard to respect someone who allows the type of bullying that she does in this time frame. When she returns to her own time, she is pretty certain she's going to confront her on it but not before then because it might affect something that she does not know about and could not change.

As she heads to lunch, she carefully considers her options for what she would like to do as Hermione in the future after the war is done. In this time frame she knows that she has too much work with the haven that she is creating with the Stars to do so. But later on, well there is no reason not to plan for after. Since coming here, she has discovered that she has a knack for charms, ancient runes, and arithmancy over her other abilities. She also has been working on developing her talents as a potion maker as well. Though she knows in that she will never match Severus. One of the things she spends a lot of time with Ayumu working on, besides learning the spells that the immortal is teaching her, is designing her own spells using her three strong points to do so.

The stinging hex that she uses with brutal efficiency is one such spell. It took several days for her to work out the right combination of runes to make it and then translate it over into a non-runic form. Another one that she has designed but not used yet is a binding spell similar to the full body bind only aimed at the nerves rather than the muscles. Some of her other custom spells she used during the gauntlet that she had dealt with on Sunday night. Mostly, she favors spells that would not do long term damage but would incapacitate the person she is dealing with. Then, once she knows who it is she is dealing with, she can react accordingly. Of course, she does use her stinging hex fairly often, but that is against people that she knew.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she takes her seat at the Slytherin table. Lestrange decides to take a seat to her left, while Jacob takes the one to her right. For most of lunch the conversation is light and easy going. Right before lunch ends however it becomes serious as Lestrange tells her in a low voice that some of the Slytherins are still planning on attacking her again. He also wishes to have a private conversation with her at her convenience about loyalty.

She nods in response, replying, "Thursday night would be a perfect time, around eleven pm?"

He nods and they rise to leave the lunch table, as they are walking out of the Great Hall, Jacob falls into line beside her, "Mind if I join that conversation?"

Again she nods, and the three of them head to the charms classroom. Throughout the rest of her day, she thinks carefully about what is going to happen. What she determines is that she needs to get the warding up sooner than later on the property. After that, she decides that tomorrow she will pay a visit to the property. If the first house is done, it will be warded. She also decides that she needs to ask Ayumu about tying the oaths to the wards. She previously asked when the immortal had taught her the oath but did not know if the base oath would tie them together or not. It's something she wants to be sure of before performing it.


	15. Chapter 14: First Wards

_Hermione's POV_  
Following dinner, she leaves the castle, heading out on the grounds to the area she prefers to use for mediation and transportation between here and the Keeper’s garden. Almost as soon as she is comfortable, wards carefully surrounding the area, she activates the amulet with a quietly murmured, " _Grădină galaxiei."_

An instant later, she is sitting in her normal apparition spot within the garden. Getting to her feet and stretching, she turns to head towards the main section of garden and the small house within the center of it. Humming softly, she heads to where the immortal can normally be found.

"Hello Ayumu," she greets the Keeper of Gates as she spots the older woman sitting on the edge of one of the fountains, fingers lightly skimming the surface.

 _Hello Hermione. How is your side feeling this evening?_ Ayumu queries lightly, a warm smile curving the older woman's lips.

She smiles wanly, thinking of the stitch in her side earlier in the day. "I’m a little sore, and not exactly sure what all I was hit with." Taking a deep breath, she decides to inquire about something she is curious about and asks curiously, "Would it be possible for me to view the incident? To see what types of spells they were using?"

A thoughtful life crosses the immortals face, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips. Silently the older woman motions to the pool of water, carefully etching a set of runes above the surface, in the air. The surface of the water ripples, images slowly forming in the clear surface.

Taking a seat on the edge of the water, she carefully watches the images as they form a like a video. The very beginning is when the group of slytherins stepped out of the forest, most having their wands already drawn. It continues through until after the fight finishes and Jacob carefully carries her to the Hospital Wing.

“Is there a way to focus in or hear what they are saying?” she inquires with a curious glance at the immortal.

 _Indeed,_ Ayumu answers with a nod, showing her a rune, _Like this._

“Thank you,” she murmurs, her focus shifting back to the images as she watches the scene over again.

Absently, she conjures pen and paper to write notes as she pays attention to the spells used and who uses each. It’s probably a good thing that she has always excelled at taking notes without looking at the paper, it’s definitely a useful skill to have.

 _Is he one of the boys who desires to change sides? He seems rather taken with you,_ Ayumu comments while watching the scene with her a third time, motioning to Jacob at the very end carrying her to the medical wing.

Nodding absently, she quietly responds, "He is.” Tilting her head, and watching the fact she is the only one who actively dodges, she absently remarks, “Actually, in two days time I will probably be swearing him to the oath. First I have to make a trip to the safe house without the teachers noticing that I am gone for several hours during class time. Sometimes I miss my time turner."

Her expression turns pensive as she queries, "Is there a way to adapt the oath so it mind-blanks the person if they are ever attacked? That way the information is not there to be stolen or cause problems. Maybe have those who swear it unable to discuss it with anyone other than others of the cause.” She frown, as she keeps thinking that train of thought through, “Of course some will have to be able to in order to recruit but most don't need to."

Several minutes pass in silence as Ayumu sits beside her silently thinking the questions. The immortal stays perched on the edge of the pool, a thoughtful expression on her face. Eventually, the immortal stands up, wandering off towards another part of the garden.

She waits patiently for the older woman, knowing that Ayumu is thinking of something and will tell her whenever she is ready.

Might as well keep watching the spells used, she thinks, I’m sure there are nuances to the choice of magic used and how they fight.

A while later Ayumu drifts back over, settling in her spot the edge of the pool once more.

 _The oath is as follows,_ the immortal states _,_

 _Tăcere la fel de obligatorie ca și cei fără glas._  
_Credința în jurământ cuiva definirea alegerea._  
_Legat acum eu sunt la locul de refugiu._  
_Protecția sa caut si bun venit._  
_Eu, să prezinte acest jurământ să aibă loc._

With each word spoken, the Keeper shows her the runes and glyphs to go with it. When she is done with the oath, the older woman remarks, _Have them do it after the base oath and it will tie them together._ Tilting her head, Ayumu declares, _We shall cover the oath-warding tonight I believe._ A small smile plays at the edge of the immortals lips as she suggests, _Then, if you would like, I can send you back to this morning at the cottage. That will give you several hours to complete what you need to at the safe house. When you are done, you can use your pendant to return here and I can return you to your warded area at the school._

Grinning as she realizes Ayumu is acting like the time turner she used to carry, she excitedly answers, "Thank you! That would be amazing and solve the problem of how to avoid being gone for several hours without them realizing it." Taking a breath, she continues, "It also answers the question of how do I tie them together, because I really wasn’t sure."

Ayumu's smile curves shifts into a small smirk. _Well,_ the immortal states playfully, _you are going to be the one doing all the hard work. I am just directing you accordingly._

She breaks out laughing at that statement. It reminds her of something she might have said from herself before coming to this time frame. "Wow," she mutters with that realization, lips curving in a slight smile, "Alright then, let's get started please."

 _Come,_ the immortal declares, _This will be better in the spell garden where you can practice._

Standing, Ayumu drifts off through the garden they are in to the one on the far side of the house. It’s the same one that is used for magic on the days the immortal has her practice the spells.

Once the two of them are in the practice garden, Ayumu turns to her and begins speaking once more. _Now then, ward magic can be very difficult. Shields are tied to your magic, thus the stronger the person, the strong the shield. Wards on the other hand, are tied to the land they are anchored to and the strength of intent of the caster. The stronger your will to complete it is, the better the ward will be. Also, the healthier the land it is tied to is, the stronger it will be._ The immortal pauses to let her absorb that information before continuing, _Now, you can tie your shields to a physical aspect as I have had you do previously with the amber. Wards will continue even after you're gone unlike shields. Do you understand?_

"Yes, wards are permanent and tie to the land, shields are temporary and tied to the caster." She promptly replies.

Ayumu nods once, continuing, _Now, as you etch the runes, you will encircle the area that you wish to protect. You can do several areas separately then tie them together. We will cover how that works later. For now however, let’s work on warding one area. Protect the fountain there,_ Ayumu directs her, waving her hand towards the small pool with a fountain in the center. _The spell is:_

 _Stele de mai sus, luminos și ghidare._  
_Ne proteja acum de la cei care nu sunt ghidate._  
_Promisiune cosmic mă căuta._  
_Protecție de la cei care nu au depus jurământul._  
_Cei care poartă marca de echilibru,_  
_Se lasă să treacă în adevăr și mângâiere._

As the Keeper explains the ward, she also shows the runes and glyphs used. It’s a common practice for the immortal to show her what she needs to know, then have her repeat and mimic both aspects of spells until she has them memorized.

Like every spell that she has learned in this garden, she takes her time copying it and working the area around the fountain carefully. It takes her several tries before she finally gets it completely right but once she does, the fountain vanishes from their senses. She roughly knows where it’s at but she cannot see, hear, or smell it.

Outside of the warded area, she carefully walks around the edge, examining it meticulously. This reminds her a lot of the Fidelius Charm. Hmmm, that’s interesting.

 _Now, attack it so you can see how much force you put into it, use the most destructive spells._ Ayumu orders her seriously, the playful smile replaced with a solemn expression.

Nodding, she spends the next several minutes attacking it for all she is worth until it finally goes down.

 _Now do it again. Re-ward and re-collapse it._ The Keeper directs her, motioning to the fountain. When you get tired you may rest in the house in the day room. I will continue to observe your spell work until I believe you are ready. At that point I will test it to see how well you have learned the ward. A small smile plays at the edge of the older woman’s lips, _When I feel certain that it will withstand the unbalanced ones attacks I will send you to the cottage so you may do your warding._

Over the next several hours she practices warding and destroying the ward. She plays with the spell, seeing how the smallest of changes to the glyphs and wording affect the ward. When she finds the combination that is the strongest for her, she takes a short break, napping on the sofa for a bit before snacking on some of the fruit awaiting her. She understands that using this much magic in such a small time frame can be exhausting, and is thankful that time flows differently within the garden then it does at the school. After all, she wouldn’t be able to practice like this if she was at the school because it would be almost too much to handle. When she’s done with her resting, she sets to perfecting the strongest version until she can cast it without thought and make it nearly impossible to collapse it by herself.

Eventually, Ayumu decides it is time to test the wards herself. The Keepers magic is different than any she has ever used, and she watches in fascination as the older woman fires spell after spell at it. Even then, it takes several long minutes where she waits with baited breath for the warding to crumble beneath Ayumu’s attack.

When the immortal finally brings them down, she orders, _Recast them, this time focus as if it is your life on the line._

She nods once, focusing with her entire mind and magic on the idea that if the wards fall, she will die. She wants the protections to be the strongest they possibly can be, able to stand firm against the attack to come.

The moment the wards connect with the ground beneath them and the water of the fountain, she knows it and can feel the difference between her previous wards and these ones. Startled, she follows the magic through them, seeing where her power begins and the natural elements take over, feeding them strength and endurance.

She blinks to clear her vision of the magic she is seeing, her eyes widening as she steps out of the way to watch Ayumu attack them once more. This time they withstand a great deal more before they collapse, and Ayumu smiles.

 _Good, short of a demi-god, I doubt that those will fail you._ The Keeper praises her, smiling at the strength she managed to put in them. Tipping her head to the side, the older woman then comments, _This is how you undo them._ Ayumu’s voice switches over to teaching mode, _Walk the same circle in the opposite direction and then use the following runes._ Her hands move slowly as she shows them. _The spell is: stele de mai sus, secții fi demis, somn până când ești sunat din nou._

She quickly repeats them and states the newest spell, carefully committing it to memory while Ayumu is quiet.

Eventually the older woman suggests, _Now then, rest for a bit and when you wake up I will have you drop the wards and then go to the cabin._

"Thank you again," she tells the immortal sincerely before she heading back into the parlor to take another nap.

When she awakens, she practices putting them up and taking them down for a bit more without any prompt. This is one thing she wants to have down so she can do them under duress without worrying about messing the spells up. It’s something she is quite sure will be handy to use for protection, not only hers but others as well.

She ends up taking another nap after wearing herself out for a third time. When she gets up, she is relieved to find food waiting for her. Afterwards, she goes looking to Ayumu, mildly surprised when she doesn’t find the Keeper in any of the normal places. Once she does find her, the immortal bids her good day, before she vanishes from sight, returning to the cabin she is currently living in.

Once at the cabin, she gets a cold drink of water while figuring out exactly what needs to be done in the time she has. As soon as she feels she has a schedule that will work, she heads to the property where she is setting up the safe houses.

Upon reaching the property, she’s happy to find that the workers have already started the construction of the second building. The first house is complete from top to bottom. Smiling to herself, she carefully goes through it to see exactly how everything looks. Following that, she visits with the works are she checks the progress on the second one to see how it is coming along.

“You are doing amazingly,” she praises the construction workers, much to their shock according to expressions.

Afterwards, she heads to the small cottage just a few kilometers away. It’s on the edge of the property, free standing from the original owners, the place they lived in so it’s in decent shape. It’s where she plans on holding the oaths, using it as a gateway to the property and community.

She spends nearly an hour walking the edge of the cottage’s property. Cautiously determining where she wants to place the starting wards that will be the foundation for the rest of the safe zone. Once she has it decided on placing, she carefully uses her wand to draw a chalk line on the ground, giving her a guide to stick too. After that, she meticulously casts the spell, keeping the timing even and her voice steady as she does so.

Once the base spell is ready, she stops in the center of the drive way, calling on her magic and the connection to the grounds to bring the wards up and link them together. As soon as she feels the magic disconnect from her and settle into the ground, she carefully leaves the warded area, looking it over and smiling in pleasure that there are no distortions to give away the ward and the house within, it simply looks like a cottage with an overgrown yard, one that is in disrepair and unlived in. Perfect.

Then she returns to within the wards, carefully feeling them out to make sure that they are firmly in place.

By the time she is done, it is almost the same time of day as when she originally visited Ayumu. It’s been a rather busy day, she thinks as she uses her pendent top return to the Keepers gardens.

 _I see you have been very busy,_ the immortal remarks as she glances at her pool of water where she is scrying.

“Yes, I spent nearly as much time there as I possibly could it seems. I need to eat and go to bed.” She replies tiredly.

 _Eat, then I will return you to your time so you may rest._ The Keeper offers, _There is plenty of food here._

“Thank you,” she responds, going in the house where she finds food waiting for her.

When she is done, Ayumu bids her good night before returning her to the runes circle at Hogwarts. With a sigh, she gets up and makes her way back to her dorm room to sleep for the rest of the night. She knows that things are going to be interesting in the next few days.

 


	16. Chapter 15: First Oaths

_Hermione's POV_

Classes go quickly for her the following day. By the time dinner is done, she realizes that she doesn’t know whether she can use her pendant to go between the safe zone and the school.

So after everyone else is in bed, she sneaks down to the circle and focuses on the cottage that she had ward the night before. A slight glow surrounds her in the ring, the next thing she knows she’s inside the wards of the cottage, standing on the front walkway. Smiling, she looks around before attempting to return. When it does not immediately work, she decides to draw the rune circle like the one that she has at Hogwarts on the walkway where she appeared at and discovers that with her pendant she can use it to jump back.

Now that's interesting, she thinks as she heads back to her dorm room, I wonder if it registers as a breach of the wards? Probably not or Dumbledore would be down here to figure out what is doing so. Definitely something she will have to look into in the near future, because the idea of someone just coming and going without the school's protective wards noticing concerns her. Though it might just be her pendant which is designed to bypass them doing it, and there is probably no one else with a pendant like this considering her past conversations with Ayumu.

Once she is in her dorm room she drops the masking spell that she uses to move about without getting caught and goes to bed after making sure that Annon has everything that she needs for the evening.

The next day seems to go in a flash between classes, meals, and practice. Shortly before eleven pm she heads to the old classroom that she uses for brewing, where she told the blokes she would be waiting for them. At exactly eleven pm they walk into the old classroom and shut the door, Jacob turning and casting a silencing spell.

Smiling at them, she comments, "Well then boys, have a seat. So you wish to discuss loyalty."

Lestrange is the first to speak, "As agreed on in our Oath, I have considered both sides and found that I like the idea of neutrality better than being at someone's beck and call but my family is heavily entrenched in it. So the idea of somewhere to fall back on is something I can appreciate."

Jacob is the second one to speak, "I would prefer to completely avoid the war if possible."

She nods seriously, thinking carefully on their words. For a bit all three of them are silent, eventually she remarks with a rather relaxed smile, "You're being rather blunt, un-Slytherin-ishly blunt."

Both Slytherins chuckle at her before Rabastan remarks, "Well after your display the other day, I figure it is best to get my cards out there sooner than later." Pausing, he glances at Jacob before declaring, "Besides, we both figured you would require a direct declaration."

Again she nods, watching them carefully. Like almost all students who have been Slytherin from the beginning of first year, they are particularly good at hiding what they are thinking. Now as she watches, she can see that there are actually cracks in that mental shield, most likely brought on by the stress of the timeline and everything that has been going on.

Getting to her feet, she motions for them to follow her before casting the masking charm over the three of them. A moment later she has left the classroom and leaves the castle wit the other two close behind. There is a look of confusion on Rebastan’s face while Jacob merely looks as if he is bemused. Moving nearly silently, the trio makes their way to the runic circle that she uses regularly for her jumps from the school to Ayumu's garden and can now use to go to the house. Once they are within the circle, she touches her pendant and focuses on the cottage. Moments later the three of them are reappearing on the walkway.

With a flick of her wand, she dismisses the masking charms surrounding them.

"Welcome to Star Cottage, follow me please." She tells them as she follows the small path around the cottage to the garden that she has started in the back. Like the garden she trains in while with Ayumu, this one is set up to disburse the magic left over from the casting in order to keep it from registering with the Ministry of Magic. Once she gets to the right spot, she turns to face the two of them. A low chuckle rises from her throat at the shock that seems to be on both their faces. Apparently using the runic circle to leave Hogwarts was something they never expected.

Barely giving them time to adjust she looks at the both of them and begins, "Jacob Mulciber, Rabastan Lestrange, you have chosen to accept the path of neutrality. If you are honest in your choice then repeat the following oath and accept the responsibilities that come with neutrality." Pausing for a moment she tucks her wand into her sleeve.

"Stars of fire, burning light. Grace us in the searing night. Cosmic promise do I seek. Truth, neutrality all but meek. Swear I do to uphold the balance. For all acts kind, cruel must follow. Cruelties truth and kindness be. Now until this oath be freed. I," she pauses to allow them to speak their names, "submit this oath to be held." As she says it both repeat it back, though Jacob is a little slower at it, her fingers flutter in front of her as well, etching the runes that correspond with the oath.

When they are done with the first part she stops for a moment as the power floods through them. Ayumu had informed her that the oath would judge them as they were at that exact moment and cause them to feel the need to align themselves towards neutrality in whatever method is needed. Once the both of them had recovered enough to focus she smiled and said, "Now the second part of the oath."

Again her fingers danced in front of her etching the runes as she spoke, "Silence as binding as those without a voice. Faith in one's vow defining the choice. Tied now I am to the place of refuge. Its protection I seek and welcome, I," pauses for them to say their names, "submit this oath to be held."

Almost immediately after they finish the last word the both of them sway on their feet. The amount of magic that it takes to invoke the oath is a bit more than they normally use.

Smiling, she leads them into the cottage and directs them to the two small ground floor bedrooms to take a nap. After setting her wand alarm for an hour, she heads to the upstairs bedroom to take one herself. Not long after, her wand starts sparking to tell her it’s time to get up, she rolls off the bed and sighs. That did not seem like a very restful nap to her. The comforting thing is she can go back to bed once they get to the school.

Stretching, she leaves the room and goes to wake the boys up. Once everyone is awake she heads back to the circle on the front driveway.

"How about we discuss this tomorrow after class because I am sure that there is plenty you both want to discuss." She suggests to them when she sees that Rabastan looks like he is about to start asking questions.

Both of them nod, joining her in the ring. After re-masking, the three return to the school and from there their dorm rooms. Once they are back in Slytherin House she dismisses the masking and heads to bed. Tomorrow before the meeting with them she will need to visit Ayumu and ask why Hogwarts is not alerting the headmaster to their coming and going.


	17. Chapter 16: The Founding of Hogwarts

_Hermione's POV_  
The following morning at breakfast, Rabastan takes the seat beside her and glances in her direction, softly inquiring, "So when do you want to finish that discussion?"

Her eyes flicker over him, thinking for a moment before answering, "I will be in the old classroom at eight pm if you need something."

He nods and the two of them return to eating their breakfast without saying another word to each other. She lightly answers any questions

After breakfast, she says hello to everyone she is friendly with as she heads to her potions class. Once in Slughorn's classroom she misses having Snape as her teacher, if only for the fact that he is a better teacher over all. He might be an arsehole, and at times he is cruel, but his classroom is a lot safer. She is quite sure she learned more from him than she has from Slughorn.

The potion they cover for the day is a simple one that she finishes quickly. While she lacks the same flare for potions that Severus or Evans have, she still has a tendency to work on alterations if she has time in the classroom to do so. Instead, she is training herself through trial and error, with lots of practice and notes on how each attempt goes. She refuses to let the fact she lacks the instinctive ability stop her from improving as much as she can. Her biggest advantage is the fact that she had had Snape as her teacher for five years, giving her a far better understanding then one might expect due to his high expectations.

After class, she heads to lunch while chatting with a group of Ravenclaws, just before they get to the Great Hall, Black and Potter step into the way.

"Zeit, we want a word with you." Potter tells her, glancing at the Ravenclaws.

The Ravenclaws glance at her with concern written on their faces, almost questioning, wanting to know if she will be alright. She nods and waves them away, she was expecting this.

Stepping off to the side, the three get out of the way of others on their way to lunch and out of the line of sight for the teachers.

"What do you want?" she demands even as her left hand starts the runes for the shielding spell to protect herself, she doesn’t trust this pair at all.

Black is the first one to speak, voice demanding, "What are you doing in this school? We'll catch you if you are helping that thing."

Frowning, she snaps her wand out of her sleeve and flicks it towards Black with a barely spoken body-bind, using hers rather than the one everyone knows. "Let's make something perfectly clear: I dislike Riddle as much as I dislike Dumbledore. I will help neither because they are both out of balance."

Potter’s eyes flicker to his bound friend as he nods, calmly replying, "All right. We’d heard that you were recruiting and wanted to stop you from helping the dark side."

Shrugging indifferently, she snaps, "Unless you're planning on taking the path of true neutrality, you will not be doing anything in regards to me. I don’t promote Riddles pure-blood bull since he is a half-blood. Nor do I support Dumbledore's light is always right bull since nature is neutral. After all, you cannot have dark without light."

Waving her wand at Black, she releases him, and turns on the balls of her feet to head to the Great Hall. She doesn’t give either a chance to do anything in response. On her way to the Slytherin table, she reassures the Ravenclaws she had been with that everything is fine, before taking her spot and chatting with some of the younger Slytherins.

Once she is done with lunch, she heads to her Defense class. Today's class ends up being on shielding against different types of hexes and curses. How very amusing considering what happened the previous Sunday. Part of the class actually includes dueling in order to practice the blocking of hexes and curses as Professor Hawklings checks each person’s skills.

For some reason, towards the end of class he starts to stare at her neck where the pendant is hidden at.

"Miss Zeit, I would like a word with you after class." He informs her just before the end of class bell goes off.

As the rest of the class filed out, she dances her left hand against her thigh in the runes of warding, particularly the wards tied to her pendant. Somehow he had gathered that she wears something on her neck and she does not want this to become a problem. So she would ward the room with the protective wards used at the house, wards that would wipe his memory of the conversation if he proved to be a threat. She does not know if he sees her hand etching the runes or if he even understands what she is doing, nor does she know whether he feels the barrier as it snaps into place around the room.

Once the wards are in place, she inquires, "You needed something sir?"

Turning towards her, he has a slight frown on his face as he replies, "Yes. I can feel the fact there is an artifact of some power on you. Yet I cannot determine what it is or where it is at."

Tilting her head sideways, she queries, "Really?"

He nods once, "My gift, if you will, is the ability to feel, and sometimes see, magic far easier than most. It’s probably the reason that I have not fallen to the curse on this position yet." He pauses and shrugs, still looking at her carefully, "So I must ask, what artifact you are hiding? What was that flare of magic I felt? Why do I get the impression of a second set of features from you?"

Glancing at the clock, she asks, "Can we have this discussion later? I need to get to arithmancy." She can tell he wants to keep her but nods, she flickers her fingers, releasing the wards and comments, "If you would like I can stop by Sunday after breakfast to continue this discussion."

"I will be expecting you Miss Zeit," he answers seriously, handing her a piece of paper with a pass for her arithmancy class. Bolting, she heads to the classroom and passes her pass to Professor Vector. The professor nods and allows her to take her place.

Class goes smoothly, the assignment being to study and compare three different equations regarding weather patterns. From there she heads to dinner, and from dinner heads straight out to the fields surrounding Hogwarts. As she walks, she keeps an eye out to make sure that no one is watching or following her. Eventual she casts the masking spell so that she effectively vanishes from sight before making her way to the runic circle that she uses for travelling place to place. Once at the circle, she activates it, and focuses on Ayumu.

She’s come up with several questions that she would like answers to and Ayumu is sure to be the one to have them. Upon appearing in the entrance garden, she makes her way to the house, softly calling for the immortal. Eventually, Ayumu calls her to the vision garden at the back of the house.

“Hello Ayumu,” she greets the older woman as she follows the summons.

Lifting her gaze from the pool of water she is watching, Ayumu inquires, _Are you not earlier in the day then you normally visit? Is something the matter?_

Taking a seat on the rim of the pool she replies, "Well, I have a couple of questions for you, and this looks like the only chance I will get to visit between now and when I am sure that the subject matter is going to come up."

Ayumu pivots in her spot to face her, then the immortal motions for her to continue speaking.

After taking a deep breath, she begins, "First off, and probably the biggest question, why is Hogwarts not notifying the headmaster as to what's happening with me? Or is it notifying him and he is just not doing anything? Why does the rune circle allow me to go from Hogwarts to the safe house despite the wards that should prevent Apparition from the school?"

Ayumu's lips curl in humor as she responds. _To start with, Hogwarts is not notifying the headmaster because it feels that the headmaster would not assist in this situation. Hogwarts is a sentient being, not only was a small piece of each of the founders souls placed into the creation of the school. Each headmaster, headmistress, staff member, and student since has also added a little bit of their life force to it as they practice their magic, allowing it to continue to be._

 _The immortal pauses for a moment, as if considering what to say next._ _Now then, as to why it does not feel that the headmaster would be of assistance. The school is neutral, as the founders were sworn to neutrality, thus the headmaster being someone who promotes the light contradicts what it is made of._

For a moment Ayumu pauses, a reflective look crossing her light colored features. _As for why does your runic circle allow you to go through the wards? That is simple. It’s tied to the same neutrality as you. Even though you did not know it when you placed the ring, there is another one directly below, far beneath the ground of the current one. There is one that was from the original founders and the safe houses that they maintained outside of Hogwarts. While the runes used are different, the school recognizes the purpose of it and your intent. If you were to try and use it for personal gain, say to cause someone harm in a way that violates the neutrality, it would not work._

When Ayumu is done speaking, the pale woman waits patiently for her to absorb everything said.

Her eyes narrow questioningly and she frowns as she considers the statement about the Founders. "The Founders were sworn to neutrality?"

Ayumu nods slowly, a small smile playing the edge of her lips as she answers. _Indeed. To them, magic required neutrality to use properly. After all, as you know, a casters intention can make the world of difference on how a spell acts and reacts. Does your history record something different? Perhaps details have been lost to time or warped._

Nodding, she answers, "According to _Hogwarts: a History_ Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were neutral, Slytherin turned evil, and Gryffindor was good. It’s the entire reason for the split between the Founders."

Turning her focus to the pool of water, Ayumu touches her finger tip to the surface of the water, tracing a rune. Motioning for her to watch, an image ripples across the water. Her eyes widen as two men and two women sit together in a massive dining room around a table, each speaking their mind, their accents and styles of clothing all different. The most noticeable thing, however is when the image clears up, and she realizes that only two of the speakers are white.

She watches in fascination, shock, disbelief, and amazement as the four people begin to speak of founding a school for magical children.

The Founders, she realizes, this is the founding of the school, at least where the four gathered to consider it.

With her focused riveted, she pays close attention to the four as they discuss the idea of a safe haven and school for magical children.

Rowena Ravenclaw is a proud woman, her mocha colored skin and raven locks proclaiming her mixed heritage. She is determined to teach any child who wishes to learn, for she feels that knowledge is power to protect oneself. Ravenclaw does not care what a child’s blood status is. Perhaps as children of muggles learn magic, their families can be taught understanding and eventually the two sides can come together to create a peaceful community and end the bloodshed currently rocking through the world.

Helga Hufflepuff is a warm woman, her merry and caring nature shown in the fact she is the one to make sure they have plenty to eat and drink, and her willingness to accept any of magical blood, no matter the type or strength. She wants to create a place where all magical children can come in order to learn in a safe and stable environment.

Godric Gryffindor is a sturdy man, years of combat training showing in his every movement and physical form. He is sure of himself as he speaks, and firm in his beliefs. All magical children should be taught, and he would welcome the brave and strong as his own. After all, accepting the muggle-born children as much as the half-bloods and pure-bloods could make their world stronger with new ideas and concepts, they would help keep the wizarding world from going stagnate and give strength to the bloodlines.

Salazar Slytherin is a serious man, his clothing and coloring immediately bringing to mind those of Spanish descent.

Perhaps he is called dark not for his magic but for his looks since he is the darkest of the four? She wonders, but quickly brings her focus back to the scene before her.

Slytherin is not denying muggle-borns because they are weaker or inferior like the racist and bigots in her time attempt to claim. He is denying them because their muggle family members do not understand magic or the traditions surrounding magic. There are a great many of those who kill anything they don’t understand, particularly those who are strong in their religious beliefs. He does not wish to risk the safe haven they are building on ignorant and superstitious muggles.

This seems to be the biggest hurled the four have to creating the school and safe haven they are discussing.

Several more days of this back and forth seems to occur before an idea is put forth on how to determined what child can come to the school. It is Ravenclaw who comes up with the idea that they spell a book to reveal the name and location of every magical child that could attend their school. After all, there is not another school like there’s in existence, wouldn’t knowing where these children are at help them to find them? This idea is quickly accepted by the four.

Of course, as soon as a book with the location of each child who is magical is agreed on, Slytherin proposes a compromise regarding muggle-born children. Those whose families are muggles and not magical could be looked into. If they are sane and rational people, a wizard or witch should introduce them to the magical world, help them to adjust before their child is ready to go off to school. For those who come from families that are not sane and rational, the ones that would cause harm, the child should be taken from them. Perhaps given to a magical family unable t have children or wanting more. Gryffindor is against that plan as well, saying a child should be left with their family.

Despite the disagreements over students, they still manage to agree on starting the school and allowing all magical children to attend. Of course, once they had that ironed out, they have to move on to the next issue: where they should put the school. Hufflepuff is the one who suggests highlands.

She gets a sense of passing time as she watches each of the Founders prepare to create the school. Picking where it is going to be and what sort of layout it shall have. There are not a lot of changes between then and now, at least not as far as she can tell. It’s not surprising that Ravenclaw designed the school floor plan, or that Hufflepuff offered the house elves a stable home and safe environment in exchange for their help with the castle and a deal with the local creatures in order to protect both sides. Slytherin and Gryffindor work together to design the defenses of the school and make sure that they will be able to withstand anything a muggle throws at them or a dark lord tries.

Time flies by as she continues watch. Hufflepuff is the one to find and hire the crew that built the school, a startling combination of witches, wizards, house elves, goblins, squibs, and giants. None of that is mentioned in _Hogwarts: A History_!

When the school’s physical form is complete, but before the magic that makes it so amazing is added, the four gather together in the heart of the castle, each swearing to take all things in neutrality and to be as unbiased as they can. Once that is done, the four work together to imbue the school with its magic, offering a piece of themselves in the process.

They’re calling points, she thinks as she notices the fact each is lined up with one of the cardinal directions and the element that correlates that point. Ravenclaw has north, the representation of air and weather, often considered the domain of knowledge, learning, and discovery. Slytherin is to the south, water and patience, the domain of healing and corrosion. To the west is Hufflepuff, keeper of earth and hearth, the domain of growth, home, and steadiness. Gryffindor is to the east, fire and passion, the domain of protection, warmth, and destruction. They balanced the elements, not in the traditional opposing method but by putting the strongest together across from each other. In doing so, they need only a small portion of each person’s magic to do the remarkable spell they are using.

When the spell ends, and the casting is over, she watches as the school awakens, its heart pulsing as it develops the semi-sentience that will allow the school to tell the difference between intent and actions. Wards and barriers rushing outwards to cover the grounds and provide another layer of protection to the school.

What about Riddle? She wonders, before forcing herself to focus on what is still going on in the pool. She can ask about Riddle and his issues later.

She watches as several more years pass, each year a new batch of students being separated and housed accordingly, and as the four Founders hire others to teach classes as the amount of students grows until there is a system much like there is now, with the original founders being the Heads of Houses, and equally the head masters and mistresses.

Through it all, she watches the struggles of the students, easily telling the muggle-borns from the pure-bloods and half-bloods based on their ability to read and write. After all, it was a time frame where only nobles were guaranteed an education. Past that, many of the muggle-born children have been abused for their magic or taught that their magic was evil, which makes their earliest years even harder.

The arguments over how to deal with the muggle-borns return with more passion than ever before. Slytherin is still wishes to use the book to discover who will have magic and take the children from their magicless homes. He is frustrated by all the students he sees having so many problems simply because their parents and faith do not understand them. Gryffindor is still against the idea, arguing passionately that it would only make things worse. After all, if magical folk started stealing the children it would just escalate the issue. Unlike before when Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had stayed out of the argument, now the women enter it, each with their own views. Ravenclaw suggests that the children be taken as infants, their parents minds wiped with a new spell she has developed and new memories placed. Let them grieve for children who died in their sleep or were still born. Hufflepuff suggests starting a new village where families with magical children can come to learn the truth of the wizarding world, to see that they are not demons or evil creatures.

What drives the final nail in the friendship, and forces them apart is a group of muggle knights and angry squibs who attempt to attack the castle, throwing themselves at the wards in a futile attempt to get to those within. Gryffindor declares they shouldn’t harm those trying to attack, after all they know no better. Instead they should merely make changes to the wards, make the school invisible to muggles and squibs who lack all magical ability. Slytherin thinks that they should deal with them quickly and harshly, give the muggles a real reason to be terrified of the wizarding world. Huflepuff and Ravenclaw agree that both plans have merit, Hufflepuff aligning with Gryffindor’s plan, while Ravenclaw chooses Slytherin’s.

When one of the muggle knights actually breaches the castle's defenses, Gryffindor rides out to meet him, knight to knight, warrior to warrior. The two knights battle, and Gryffindor wins, though is injured in the process. Surprisingly, the other knight accepts his defeat and leaves. Which enrages Slytherin who thinks that knight should be stopped. After all, he is going back out into the world to possibly harm other wizards and witches, to spread his hate of the magical world.

It is when the four cannot come to an agreement as to what to do that Slytherin finally leaves. Storming from the castle in anger and leaving the other three to deal with this foolishness. Despite that, he leaves a protector behind in the form of a basilisk who can come to the school aid if ever there is an attack. The man he leaves in his place as head of house is a parselmouth, with the same ability to speak with serpents as he has.

The pool ripples and clears as Slytherin walks out of the school for the last time.

She doesn’t notice the passing of time as she watches the entire thing in the pool, listening to all of the scenes where it slowed down enough for her to hear the conversation. Her mind quickly comparing what she has seen versus what she has previous read in _Hogwarts: A History._ There are a lot of things that seem to have been twisted over the years by the people who have lived between then and now.

As a muggle-born she understands both sides of the view. Gryffindor's insistence that their new blood would be a help in the long run, which is true to keep from inbreeding and losing the power that way, and how it’s not right to take a child from their family. However, Slytherin's concerns about the families of the muggle-borns makes just as much sense since people, both magical and not, are always finding new ways to harm each other. After all, isn’t that exactly what is happening because of Riddle right now?

Lost in thought, she does not notice how long she stays beside the pool of water even after the image finally fades away. Nor does she notice when Ayumu stands and drifts away to leave her in her thoughts. It will be several hours before she finishes processing all the information that she had just learned in a moderately short amount of time, a lot of it different from what she has previously learned.


	18. Chapter 17: Conversations

_Hermione's POV  
_ What finally pulls her out of her thoughts is her stomach growling. Glancing around, she realizes that the sky has darkened to its twilight-like night state while she was sitting there. It’s something that she has rarely seen during her training times since she is not normally there that long. Shaking her head, she stands, discovering that her legs are cramped from sitting too long. Carefully, she stretches in order to get all the tenseness and cramps out of her muscles. Once she has the cramps worked out of them, she heads inside the house, nearly shocked to see Ayumu sitting at the table in the kitchen area. It’s not a spot she normally finds the immortal seated at.

 _You should eat and rest,_ the Keeper suggests gently. _You can ask any other questions you have afterwards. Has the time you spent in and by the pool assisted you any?_ Ayumu inquires as she calls a small plate full of fruits, bread, and cheeses over from the counter.

Sitting, she accepts the plate of food with thanks. As she eats she is quiet, reflecting on the questions and answers that she now has. Of course, answering the questions created more questions to go through.

"I think it has. It’s a completely different view of the situation between the Founders than the one recorded in the history books. It explains a lot of things to me. Like how Hogwarts always seems to have an equal share of good and evil without one ever really being stronger than the other. The fact the headmaster does not seem to be aware of what is happening at times. Even how Riddle has gotten away with some of the things he does in my original time frame." Pausing, she looks out the large stain glass window by the stove before inquiring, "How long was I out there by the pool? I have a hard time telling time here."

Chuckling, Ayumu responds, _Only eleven hours or so, I was actually surprised that you did not feel the passage of time more. You were very focused on what the pool had to show you. Afterwards, you were focused solely on understanding what it was you had saw._

Startled, she repeats, "Eleven hours?"

Ayumu nods, saying nothing.

Shaking her head again, she can hardly believe she was out there so long but she knows that Ayumu is not joking. Of course, she had nearly everything she has ever learned about the Founders rewritten in that short time frame. So it’s not surprise to her that it took so long for her to make sense of it all. Now she knows more than ever that what she is doing is right. Particularly since the histories were so very different between the truth and the way it’s taught. Not that she is surprised that they are different. There are a lot of things she has noticed in _Hogwarts: A History_ that does not match up with details that she has found elsewhere. Why would the founding be any different?

"Thank you for all the help," she sincerely states, grateful for all the assistance the immortal has given her.

Ayumu inclines her head, accepting the thanks.

"I think I’m going to get back now. After my meeting with the boys, I can go to bed early." She comments as she stands up. Eating her small meal has returned much of the energy she had burned off.

Again Ayumu inclines her head, _All right. Have a good night Hermione._

Smiling at the pale woman’s use of her real name, she heads to the portal point in the garden. There she pulls her pendant out of her blouse and focuses on it. Moments later she is standing in the circle on the school property. Before she heads back down to the classroom in order to wait for the boys, she takes a moment to catch up with herself. Simply standing there and breathing. Checking the time, she discovers that she has fifteen minutes to get there, so she masks and heads in.

Once in the classroom where she told the blokes to meet her, she unmasks herself, and uses the floo to ask the house elves for something to snack on to be delivered to the classroom. Just as the food appears on one of the tables, Rabastan and Jacob knock at the door, and then enter the room, shutting the door behind them.

Almost as soon as they close the door, she raises the barriers and wards that protect the secret of the Order to life.

With a flick of her wand, she transfigures two chairs out of stools and moves them in front of the fireplace. She then settles on the chair closest to the table with the food on it.

"I am guessing that both of you have questions?" she inquires as she pours herself a cup of hot tea and takes a cinnamon bun.

They glance at each other before Jacob inquires, "How did we leave Hogwarts?"

"Where did we go when we left Hogwarts?" Rabastan asks an instant later.

"Star Cottage. It’s the first part of the safe zone that I’m currently having built for our people to hide in. It will actually be a community, much like Hogsmeade. The biggest difference will be there will be muggles there as well. Those that are saved from Riddle will be welcome to live there until the war is done. Then, at that time, they will be able to leave. However, because of the wards that protect it, only those who swear the Oath of Neutrality will be able to remember it once they leave. It doesn’t matter whether they are muggle or wizarding." She answers Rabastan first.

Then she shifts to answering Jacob, "The castle is sentient, it recognizes my circle for what it is and allows it to work accordingly."

"What do you mean the castle is sentient?" Rabastan demands, his voice full of shock and disbelief.

She nods once, "It has a conscious of its own, if you will. It was created by two powerful wizards and two powerful witches giving a small piece of their soul into its awakening. Then, with every single witch and wizard who has lived and practiced magic, here that soul has been fed even further. It’s able to determine intent." She pauses, considering how to explain what she saw before shrugging and concluding, "It does not think like us, but it does think."

Several minute pass with none of them speaking as the boys consider what her answers. Instead, the three of them snack on the treats she requested from the house elves in the kitchen.

Jacob is the one to break the quiet by asking, "So what will our responsibilities be to the Order? I am sure that there will be some."

She smiles at him, answering, "Well, since you plan to stay completely out of the war, my hope is you will help train those who cannot in dueling and fighting."

"And me?" Rabastan inquires curiously.

Switching her gaze to him, she responds, "I’ll be teaching you a few select spells that will allow you to send people to the safe house. It’ll also make copies of them so that Riddle will think that they are dead. However, I would suggest destroying the copies quickly since I don’t know how long that the copies will last. Plus, since the spell is protected by the oath, you can’t be forced to reveal where it is from, your mind will design and stick with a situation where you created it or found it in some lost family book."

She watches as the two shares a look, a silent conversation based on years of friendship happening before they turn back to her and smile. In that moment, she knows that it will work, because of the determinations of people like them. Those who have everything to gain and nearly nothing to lose.


	19. Chapter 18: Professor Hawkling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Anything familiar is probably owned by J. K. Rowling or any of the companies that deal with the Harry Potter series
> 
> Hello everyone, I have greatly appreciated the reviews that I have been receiving. Enjoy and review please. 
> 
> Sorry for such a long wait, life has been crazy

_Hermione’s POV_

Early Sunday morning she is up before anyone else in her House in order to take Annon outside for some quality time before she has to go to breakfast. For a while, the two of them spend time just relaxing, her falcon alternating between soaring high above and perching on her shoulder. She enjoys watching the bird as she does so, finding it amusing when her falcon and a raven start playing tag. In nature, it would be a sign of aggression, but here it’s merely the two being playful. The raven in question actually belongs to one of the Slytherin boys a year below her though she never learned his name because he tends to avoid everyone.

Glancing at the sky, she realizes it must be approaching breakfast time and uses her wand to quickly check the time. She sighs when she realizes it’s time to head in and begin the day.

Whistling, she holds her arm out for Annon to land on. As soon as the falcon does so, she turns on her heel, and returns to the castle. Striding through the halls, she keeps a sharp eye out for any trouble, particularly the sort that wears Gryffindor red and gold. She’s rather happy when she manages to make it back to the dorm without running into anyone despite her lack of shielding. Once in her dorm room, she makes sure that the air vent that Annon prefers is empty with a focused burst of magic, lays out food and drink for her, and gives the falcon a treat before heading upstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast.

During breakfast, she visits with some of the blokes in her house, enjoying the fact that they have come to an understanding and have an easier relationship since the gauntlet. While there are still those who try to cause problems, she has determined that today is not going to be one of those days where she worries about it. Instead, she will accept the uneasy truce between her and them so that her focus can be purely on the DADA teacher. A man who she can recall next to nothing about except he dies in the summer of 1976, not long after the school year ends.

When she is done eating, she takes off from the Great Hall, heading to the defense teacher’s office down the hall from his classroom. She did not see him at breakfast, so she has a feeling that he is already there. As she nears his office, her hand starts to flicker for the runes for the area warding, happy that she had been able to adapt her warding spell with the silencing spell her and the boys used.

Sure enough, as soon as she knocks he bids her to enter.

“Good morning Miss Zeit, do please come in,” he bids her in greeting.

Stepping in the office, she finishes the warding as she shuts the door behind her. “Good morning sir,” she states as she takes a seat and watches him.

“Well, Miss Zeit, we are here to discuss how you use a set of spells I do not recognize, have a powerful magical artifact, and why I get the impression of two different sets of features from you.” he states, tilting his head to the side.

“The artifact is an heirloom, and the spells come from a friend who is not from around here, one who has been helping me with magic for a while now.” She replies, ignoring the last question.

“The features?” he queries after a few moments of watching and waiting for her to continue.

“Currently only one other person knows the reason why, and that person is sworn to silence,” she answers seriously. A small smile curves her lips as she continues, “If you wish to be sworn to silence or neutrality I’ll explain but otherwise not, same with how I use those spells you don’t know.”

A thoughtful look crosses his features as he considers what she has said. It doesn’t take a Legilimens to know he is trying to determine how serious to take her and whether it’s a good idea to take an oath or not.

While he considers the options, she tries focusing in on her memories, checking to see if she can recall anything more about him. By the time he finally speaks she has given up since she can’t recall anything else about him.

“What type of oath?” he queries seriously.

“Either a wizarding oath of silence or an oath to of neutrality,” she answers softly, thinking, if she can get him to swear to neutrality that would be a boon. Particularly with his skill set and abilities. Plus it wouldn’t hurt to have someone who is already an adult and well aware of what’s going on sworn to the order.

“That’s rather extreme,” he comments with a dry chuckle.

Shrugging nonchalantly, she responds, “Extreme is sometimes needed.”

Again silence falls as he continues to consider his options.

“You’re not going to say a word otherwise are you?” he eventually asks, voice resigned as if he has made a choice and is not really happy about it.

Seriously, she answers, “No, this is one subject that requires either type of oath.”

“What’s the difference between the oaths? Wizarding oaths are very serious things, and I have a feeling that so is the neutrality oath you speak of.” He queries before stating, “You’re not just a fifth year are you?”

“Pick an oath and I will explain to the full measure of whichever one you choose.” She responds, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip, the snot in her hates being what she sees as rude to a professor with whom she should respect. However after years of not having the same defense teacher two years in a row, she has learned to not consider defense teachers with the same respect she gives her charms or transfiguration professors. Though, since coming here, her respect for Professor McGonagall has dropped majorly, she will definitely be having a few words with her when she gets home.

“Neutrality,” he finally decides.

“The oath of neutrality is also an oath to not take a side within the war between light and dark,” she informs him, wanting him to understand this is not something to be done lightly.

He nods, “It is still more agreeable than a wizarding oath,” he responds. “Though I have to admit I feel off about doing this with a teenager.”

A chuckle escapes her as she nods, she can understand completely, “Then why?”

“Because something tells me it’s the right choice,” he replies quietly.

“Well then, repeat after me,” she murmurs.

He nods and she proceeds to state the oath, allowing just enough time to repeat the lines before moving on to the next. She feels when the magic takes hold, even feels the strength of his neutrality, surprised to find that it is even more than her own.

She gives him a moment before speaking, “My name is actually Hermione Jane Granger. I was born September 19th, 1979. On June 4th, 1996 I was part of a battle against Riddle and his minions along with my best friends. During that battle I was covered with time dust. When something went horribly wrong, I made the mistake of using a Time-Turner to try and fix the problem. I was successful but passed out from injuries sustained. When I collapsed the Time-Turner spun of its own accord and I was thrown into a world between times. There I was given a choice between the past and present. It was a chance to try and help those who are not given a choice. So I accepted the past.” She pauses to pull her pendant out of her shirt, “This was originally the Time-Turner but the Keeper of the between realm changed it, this is the artifact that you noticed. I am here in order to give a choice to those who would otherwise not have one. Hopefully it’s a choice that saves lives.” She tucks the pendant back into her shirt, “Any questions?”

He is silent for a little bit as he thinks about what her explanation. She intentionally left out names and dates except for her birth date and the day she vanished.

“You’re seventeen?” is the first thing he asks, quirking an eyebrow at her.

Grinning sheepishly, she shakes her head, “No. At this moment I am mentally twenty and physically seventeen.”

“Explain please,” he responds, waving a hand towards her, before asking, “Tea?”

“Please and thank you,” she answers, explaining, “I used a Time-Turner for a year, but I used it a bit more than I was supposed to. When I came here, my physical age was reset to sixteen, and I have passed my birthday.”

“A bit more? That sounds like you added nearly three years to your life,” he remarks as he pours the two cups of tea out of a pot sitting off to the side.

She discreetly checks it before taking a sip, “Eighteen months actually, however my time between worlds is included, and I have spent a lot of time there, plus several months in this timeline. I am closer to twenty than nineteen.”

“You spend time between worlds?” he queries giving her a funny look.

She nods in agreement, “Yes. It’s what this pendant does now. It allows me to go from here to there, which is very handy. The Keeper is teaching me some of the Old Ways.”

“What type of option are you providing?” he asks softly.

“Neutrality. It’s the choice not to follow Riddle, and to live and thrive rather than be slaughtered for being different. I am building a community where magical folks and muggles can live together in peace. When anyone leaves the community, they will forget about it unless bound to it by oath.” She answers firmly.

She stops, taking a moment to organize her thoughts before continuing on. “I want Slytherins to have an option besides Riddle, since no one else wants to give them a chance. Not even those who could – or should – help them,” she stops again, considering what she wishes to say next.

Fiercely she finishes, “Past that, the wizarding world will be decimated by the war. The next three generations will be slaughtered, dying for a half-blood’s arrogance.”

Closing her eyes, she quickly runs through a checklist of things she may need to cover, but considers the question answered for now. Anything else, she will answer as it’s put forth.

Several minute pass in silence, each in their own thoughts before he asks, “I have a feeling you’re not telling anyone else about being someone else, so why me?”

Grinning, she answers with a small shrug, “Because you see it, even if only at the edges. According to Amuyu, the potion that makes me look like this by using what I could have looked like had my genetics combined in a different way. I actually look a lot like my maternal great-grandmother. The biggest difference being I have my father’s eyes.”

“I’d like to help,” he states clearly. “One thing a lot of people do not understand is that magic depends on intent and the will of the caster.” Shrugging he comments, “I was home schooled. When I started here I thought the house system was good until I saw how much damage it does.”

She nods in agreement. “Step one was the oath of neutrality. Technically it is the beginning of the Star Oath. Step two is the rest of it, otherwise, the only time you will remember is when I am in the same room. Step three is living.”

“Why wouldn’t I remember?” he asks, pouring both of them more tea.

She sort of motions to the rest of the room with her hand, not quite waving but close, “I warded the room as I entered. Wards tied to the neutrality spell, only within the wards or with my pendant nearby will the spell allow you to remember fully. It’s a safety precaution, though I am not exactly sure how it knows.” She partly shrugs, “It’s another one of those handy spells Amuyu taught me.”

“What is the second Oath?” he queries after a few minutes of sipping at his tea.

“That one has to be taken at the cottage,” she answers seriously. “Since it’s the middle of the day, it’s not the easiest to hop from here to there.”

He nods in agreement. “It’s a tying spell then, binding to the place. Is it possible to leave once taken?”

She nods, chuckling and answering, “Yes. It only has to be sworn there. Then in times of great danger, its protective magics will help as much as possible.” Glancing at the clock, she is startled to see that it is nearing lunch time. She hadn’t thought that they had been talking that long, but apparently time flies away when discussing secrets of this nature and having defense teachers swear oaths. “I know that my explanation of the magic is a bit lacking, but it’s not something I can easily explain, I feel it more than I know it.”

“Understandable, there are some areas of magic that are like that.” He responds with another nod. “One day I would like a full account, but not today,” standing, he motions to the door. “This other oath, when were you thinking about it and how do you get off school grounds without being noticed?”

“Pendant, and the weekend,” she replies quickly, before suggesting, “Next would probably be best.” Sighing, she stands and stretches a bit, “This has been a crazy busy week.” Walking to the door, her hand flickers, “You’ll remember we spoke, but not exactly what of, have a good day sir,” she tells him before stepping out and breaking the warding as she does so.

“Yourself as well,” he replies as the magic takes effect.

In some ways this is very handy because it will show her how effective the spells are against adults and people settled into their magic, but at the same time she is questioning why she told him so much. Sighing, she returns to her room to write before lunch, best to get this down now rather than later. It could be a major event eventually. Just before lunch Jacob calls through the door for her to hurry up, with a smile, she sets the book aside, she’ll look for changes after lunch to see if anything new has been affected in the future too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have her explain the age thing because she is a bit more mature than one would expect a seventeen year old to be.


	20. Chapter 19: Werewolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone who communicates in some way, though leave reviews and comments if you want faster posting time, I always write better when I have an idea about what they are feeling about the story.
> 
> So after being asked on several occasions lately if I have a Tumblr account I decided to give it a try and can be found here [ JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/)

 Hermione’s POV  
After her meeting with the DADA professor, her week seems to pass in a flash. All of her classes go smoothly, though she has determined after she sits her OWL’s she is not going to continue with Divination. She has enough time and real Seeing magic in her life without dealing with Divination classes.

The one thing that bothers her over the week is the fact that the idiot four are not causing problems. In the entire time that she has been here, there has not been a single week where they have not caused some type of issue, so it makes her curious as to what they are plotting. By Thursday evening, her concern for what they are plotting has increased exponentially. She only hopes they wait until next week before they do whatever stupid thing they are considering because this is promising to be a busy weekend.

Before dinner Thursday, she arranges to meet Professor Hawkling in Hogsmeade at ten am on Saturday. She then arranges with Jacob to cover for her in case anyone needs her during that timeframe.

Once dinner is done, those issues she has been expecting all week materialize. She is halfway to the runic circle when she hears the howl echo through the air.

How the hell had she forgot the full moon?

Since she started making her nearly nightly trips to the runic circle, she had always made sure to check the status of the moon before she would leave the safety of the school. Well this is not the way she wanted to determine whether her shielding spells would work against a werewolf. Still, her fingers flicker as she casts the shielding spell with one hand, while her wand hand quickly etches through the air as she mutters the scent and sound masking spells.

As the spells flare to life around her, the baying of the werewolf stops.

Pausing, she glances around, checking to see if he is close or not. She sighs in relief when she doesn’t see him, but she continues on her way, picking up her speed in order to get there sooner than later, but does not run because she wants to watch where she is going so not to step on something that makes noise. Just as she reaches the circle she spots the immature form of the werewolf running towards her ring. Without dropping her shields, she grabs her pendant and focuses, vanishing from the circle and reappearing within the garden.

 _You look a bit scared, is something the matter?_ Amuyu queries as she catches her breath.

“I forgot one of my classmates is a werewolf, and while he is supposed to be locked away under a giant whomping willow tree, he and his friends like to race in the forest in their animal forms.” She replies as she glances over at the older woman.

 _Ah, would you like to learn a spell designed to paralyze magical creatures of the shifter types?_ The keeper inquires as she drifts towards the practice garden.

She can feel her eyes widening at the concept, to be able to stop a werewolf before they can attack would be a boon of incredible value. It makes her curious if there is a way to prevent the werewolf curse from spreading. “That would be amazing,” she responds before biting her lip for a moment before curiously asking, “Is there a way to prevent an infected person from becoming a werewolf?”

 _Not a true preventive measure. Instead of turning into werewolves, they would become a wolf shifter. We will cover that spell as well. Sadly, once the were has formed a bond with the victim's life force, they will forever be a werewolf. At least at this point, there has never been a spell designed to cure it, not successfully._ The Keeper replies after a moment of thought.

After thinking about it for a little bit she inquires, “Are shifters the same as animagi?”

 _Animagi? Let me see,_ Amuyu comments distractedly as she settles onto the edge of the fountain for a time, after a few moments of gazing into the water she replies, _It’s different. An animagi must be a witch or wizard to shift. A shifter is someone who has a second form but might not be magical otherwise. Once upon a time they were a common. However they are now very rare._

“Oh,” she mutters as she thinks about it, maybe she can think of a way to use the spells she is going to learn tonight in order to find a cure for the werewolf, being a shifter sounds like it would be a better fate. “Are shifters forced to shift?”

 _Oh, heavens no, occasionally their second form will desire to come to the surface but they never actually have to shift._ Pausing, the older woman tilts her head to the side before asking, _Would you like me to check you for the ability to shift?_

“Really?” she had wanted to learn how to become an animagi so that would be a wonderful thing if she could learn how to do so here.

Smiling, the keeper etches several runes in the air, before softly blowing on her face before glancing into the water beside her. A moment later she watches as the water ripples. At first it is just an image of her but it slowly changes into a beautiful falcon, very similar to her Annon only darker chocolaty brown.

Shocked at the image, she looks up asks, “Is that me?”

 _It is, your exposure to the deep magics has awoken your inner gifts. Keep watching, the image has not faded, which normally means there will be more than one form,_ the white-haired woman remarks.

Glancing back at the water, she is startled to see that the form is no longer a falcon, but now an otter so very similar to her Patronous. Since the image still has not faded, her eyes stay riveted on the pool, waiting to see what happens next. How is this even remotely possible? It seems almost too much, and completely changes everything she has ever learned about magic and shape changing. Eventually it fades from the otter into some type of chocolate colored lizard before it finally fades away.

Incredible, she thinks, an animagi can only become one animal. How is it possible I could become four?

 _Very interesting, you have one animal from each elemental alignment: the falcon for air, the fox for earth, the barbed agama for fire, and the otter for water. We will have to practice your shifting here so I may see which animal will be your first, to which element you are tied most closely too._ Amuyu tells her very seriously, a thoughtful look on her face. _I believe the last humans to be multiforms tied to the elements in your world were the Hogwarts Founders._

Touching the pool with the tip of her finger, Amuyu calls up the past in the water as she watches. The first it shows is Godric Gryffindor as he is learning to shift, his first animal being a lion. He looks older when he discovers his next form, that of a stag, while his last two forms are discovered after the founding of the school, his water form being a red sea turtle and his air form an owl. For a second the one to show is Rowena Ravenclaw, unlike Gryffindor she figured out the ability to shift into her four different forms as a teenager in the images show, with assistance from an older woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to her. Her four forms are golden eagle, a gila monster, eared seal, and brass colored fox. Helga Hufflepuff is the next one that she watches learning to shift, her first shift being an accident when she turned into a badger while playing outside with animals, then after the founding of Hogwarts, Ravenclaw had helped her learn to how to turn into her other forms, that of a crab, chameleon, and village weaver. The last one to show in the pool of water was Salazar Slytherin, like Ravenclaw he had learned to do all his forms before the Founding. His first and favorite form was a silver viper, while the second form he used a lot was peregrine falcon, his other two forms which he did not seem to use often were a eastern glass lizard and black wolf.

As the last of the image fades, she stares at the water considering it. Why so long?

“Is the multi-shifting common in other verses?” she asks after a thinking about it a bit.

Tilting her head to the side, the older woman thinks about it for a bit before touching the pool. The images flash far too fast for her to keep track of them. Instead she just waits for the Keeper to finish whatever it is she is doing, knowing that the older woman would answer when she is ready to.

 _As far as I can tell, your time stream is the only one that does not have multi-shifters as a normal. I believe the reason you are a multi-shifter rather than a single shifter is the fact you brushed against those other timelines and it awoken the gift. Who knows, perhaps you will change your timeline so that there are others who can do the same. It is very telling that only those sworn to neutrality in your timeline have the multi-shift ability and bothered to learn to shift._ The white-haired immortal answers her when she finally pulls away from the water.

Her mind whirls for a moment, considering the implications of that statement before she nods. “Probably. My original reason to visit was to ask if my bangle will be able to carry both me and an adult? I know it worked for me and the boys, but I wasn’t sure if that was because they are young or not.”

 _Of course, as long as they are touching you, you will be able to carry them. Safely you can move yourself and a medium dragon._ The keeper replies with a smile. _Since that is covered, let’s go work on the safety spells. I do not know how much intelligence a werewolf retains in your time stream, so liniște de formă would be your best bet, liniște a minții is for creatures you know are intelligent. These are the runes for liniște de formă. _The older woman shows her the hand motion for it, having her practice it several times to ensure that she knows it before moving on to showing her the second.

For the next little while she alternates between the two spells until she can fire them off without thinking about it. When she is getting tired she inquires, “How long do those spells last?”

 _Will dependant, if you put a lot of force behind it, it will last longer than if you do not. Now you should return to your timeline, so you can get some rest. Will you need assistance or do you think you will be able to handle it? We will practice your shifting once the school year is done._ The Keeper answers her.

Shaking her head, she replies, “I’ll be alright, I have worn myself out further before. Beside’s when I return to my time I will not have the napping option.” There is a mischievous smile playing at the edges of her lips.

Bidding her friend and mentor goodnight, she heads to the portal to return home. Stepping into the runic circle, she casts the protective shield and the senses-muting shield before activating her pendent to return to the school's property. A moment later she is standing inside the school portal ring, just moments after she left. Turning, she spots the werewolf rushing towards where she is, running with him is a large black dog that she recognizes as Sirius animagi form and a large stag that she recognizes as James’ animagi form from what Harry told her during their third year.

The small, vindictive side of her decides to strike out even though she knows it’s not fair. Using the new spell she has learned, and firing it off in quick succession to hit all three. When she sees Wormtail fall off of the stag’s back as he goes down, she makes sure to hit him with the spell as well, putting far more power into it then she does her other three spells.

Still unseen, she moves closer to them, to study the werewolf form while it is not a threat, or at least a threat that can do anything to her for a moment. Since her conscience won’t allow her to leave them unprotected, even without the interference of the neutrality spell, she quickly casts a ward over them before taking off towards the school. She wants to be in her bed before they are able to move again.

Her mind is quickly replaying everything that happened from before she left to the moment she reached her dorm. Her focus is on each detail about Remus’ werewolf form that she noticed while quickly studying her classmate. She will be here for three years, during which time she can work on figuring out a way to cure werewolves, or at least make them into wolf shifters. There is a spell that does it for people who have not yet completed the change, there has to be a way to make it work for people who have completed the change.

She’ll have to make sure Rabastan knows how to do both spells, and do so without getting caught. After all, she doesn’t want him getting hurt or blowing his cover if it’s avoidable. As long as he feels he has to stay among the death eaters he will be in a position to help, and his oath will make sure he doesn’t stray from it.

She get’s Annon set up for the evening, and does her own nightly routines before getting comfortable in bed, and allowing her mind to focus on the changes. Her hand feels like it’s flying over the paper as she jots her notes down. There are several minor changes she can notice, but the biggest one is the fact there seems to a far smaller werewolf population. So either she is successful with a possible cure or a lot of werewolves are saved by Rabastan. She’ll have to think about it more later, for now, it’s time for sleep.


	21. Chapter 20: OWLs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated, thank you to any one for any form of communication, I love it and it keeps me writing!
> 
> Tumblr about my stories: [ JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/)

_Hermione’s POV  
_ That weekend, Professor Hawklings sends her a message saying there is an emergency and he will be away from the school. That means they will not be able to visit the cottage sometime. That’s alright, it’s not going anywhere.

In the weeks following the night of the full moon, there are several occasions where she shifts the focus of the marauders to herself rather than let them go after Severus or some of the other students. In some ways it reminds her of her time frame, only it is Gryffindor bullies instead of Slytherin bullies. In both cases, she is furious over the fact that they are allowed to be bullies.

Twice James and Sirius had tried demanding that she answers them about the night of the full moon. Both times she just smiles and walks away. That is one question she will not be answering any time. She will give one more warning this school year about the future, though she doubts that it is going to be successful. They’re rather good ignoring warnings, particularly ones she gives.

It’s during the last weeks of the school year, while the fifth years are doing their OWLs and seventh years are doing their NEWTS, when the next major event happened. Even though she is almost expecting what happened because of a conversation she once had with Harry, she is still shocked and enraged by what she sees. Having that forewarning does not lessen the impact of actually being present.

It’s not long after the DADA OWL that she observes the Marauders following Severus outside. Since there is plenty of teachers in sight, she isn’t worried about it. Instead she heads to the kitchen for a quick snack before returning upstairs. She’s walking down the hall when she spots the gathering of students surrounding a jeering Black and Potter, and Severus hanging upside down in the air.

Fury quickly burns through her system. Her ears pick up the sounds and people in the crowd and those that are doing the bullying. Of course it’s them, it’s almost always them when it comes down to bullies.

“Let him down!” Lily demands. There is something else in her tone, something that borders between amusement and anger. Why would she be amused at all?

“Certainly,” a snide James replies.

Moments later Severus crashes to the ground as the spell holding him in the air is released. He goes from being her sight to not as he lands on the floor in the middle of the group.

Before Severus has a chance to stand, she hears Sirius yell, “ _Locomotor mortis!”_

A light thump tells her that the spell had successfully hit Severus, freezing his body.

“Leave him alone!” Lily shouts at the two of them again, there is less amusement and more anger in her tone this time.

Slipping through the crowd, she continues to listen. Her eyes sweep the area, taking in everything, including the fact that there is not a single teacher anywhere in sight. Most of the crowd is Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, with a small scattering of Ravenclaws and lower year Slytherins. Some of them look embarrassed and are saying nothing, some look pleased and are jeering the bullies on, and some look scared as if they are worried the bullies are going to turn on them next.

“Ah, Evans, don’t make me hex you,” James comments, something new entering his tone. He is staring at Lily with affection in his eyes.

Beside him, Sirius’ is just about lounging as he stands there, eyes flickering between Lily and Severus, something dark and vicious in his eyes.

“Take the curse off him, then!” she exclaims again, her wand trained more on Sirius than it is James. Twice Lily’s eyes flicker between where Severus is laying ramrod straight and stiff as a board and the two Marauders.

She can hear as James sighs before he mutters the countercurse, then states, “There you go, you’re lucky Evans was here Snivellus—“

Snapping as he struggles to his feet, Severus snarls, “I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!” Despite the words, his focus is completely on James and Sirius, not on his friend standing just a bit behind him and to the left.

The red-haired girl’s eyes widen momentarily, the anger and amusement being replaced by rage and sadness. “Fine,” Lily states coolly, her tone breaking as if she has just lost something precious to her or like something she had long suspected had come true, “I won’t bother in the future. And I’d wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus.”

At the nearly the same time, James just about roars at him, “Apologize to Evans!”

Anger and fury flashing in her eyes at hearing this, Lily yells at the both of them viciously, “I don’t want you to make him apologize. You’re as bad as he is…” her voice trails off, her emotions seems to overwhelm her into silence.

Standing on the edge of the crowd she observes each of them, her wand slipping silently into her hand, while she quickly etches the shields around herself. Sirius has a smug look on his face as if he has gotten exactly what he wants as he stares hard at Severus. James looks both furious and confused in equal measures, the fury directed at Severus, the confusion directed at Lily. Lily looks sad, angry, and hurt with other emotions flickering across her face as well, though she is staring at the floor as if trying to gain her composure and get her emotions back under control. Severus looks somewhere between lost, furious, and indigent with something else burning in the background, most of his attention is focused on James and Sirius, but a small part is on Lily and she can see the thoughts whirling in his eyes. All around various students look like they are not sure what to do. Those who originally looked embarrassed are in shock, those who had been jeering the Marauders on look horrified, while those who had looked worried seem to be a mix of shock and horror. She can see some of her fellow older Slytherins approaching as well, though there are none in the group currently surrounding the situation that observed it. This has the potential to get a lot worse.

While she studies them, Lily and James continue their discussion quieter before Lily goes storming off. As soon as Lily is gone, Severus is back in the air because of Sirius and she decides it’s her turn to step up.

Slashing her wand through the air, she very softly hisses out the stinging spells and a cushioning spell for when Severus for when he falls from the air as the spell ends. Anger radiates from her, with every student near her stepping back.

“How dare you! All of you! You are all bullies and cowards, particularly those two, but the rest of you as well for allowing it. You think that this behavior is right? How is it any different from those who attack muggle-borns? How is it any different from what Voldemort does on a regular basis?” she snarls, her anger getting the best of her.

She spots nearly every person in this group flinching at her mentioning his name. In her own time she would not say it as easily, but right now her anger is flared too much. None of the students want to meet her gaze as her eyes sweeps around the gathering.

“This blind stupidity is why there is a war going on. You say you attack him because he is evil,” she is pointing at Sirius as she continues, “But you are the one I see causing harm just because you are bored. You are the one who attacks others just to make yourself feel strong. Now scatter before I start hexing the rest of you.” She concludes, her wands slashing through the air one more time towards the three who had been fighting, though she does not cast anything harmful, just a detection spell to see if there is any damage on them.

Thank you Amuyu for that very handy spell for detecting basic harm among a group rather than having to keep casting healing detection spells. No lasting damage, just sore and bruised bodies.

In the middle of the floor where they had tormented Severus, both James and Sirius are twitching as they get up. Sirius is cussing softly under his breath as well, his focus on her more than Severus. Severus looks like he wants to say something, but the look in her eyes seemed to freeze him in place as he stares back at her. James appears to be enraged but is keeping quiet. There is something thoughtful in his gaze. The crowd has decided to listen to her, almost all of them scattering immediately. The other two Marauders have come to join their friends.

The urge to hex Peter is like an itch she just wants to scratch though she doesn’t.

“I’ve told you before, and I will tell you again, the path you are on is one of pure foolishness,” she softens her voice as she speaks. “Being a bully is not going to solve anything. You want to prove you are not like your Slytherin family Sirius? Then don’t act like a worse bully than any I have seen in Slytherin house. In the years to come the five of you will have to make a series of choices. One of you will die, two of you will be out casted for things that are not your fault, one of you will be wrongly accused, and one of you is a traitor. Despite that, things are not always as they seem, perhaps you should actually look beneath the surface for the truth rather being blinded by your foolishness.” Turning on her heel, she plans to walk away but pauses when she sees Professor Hawkling approaching.

“What’s going on here?” the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher demands as he looks between the six of them.

Focusing her gaze on the older wizard seriously, she replies softly, her voice low, “Some bullies being dealt with sir.”

He arches an eyebrow at her questioningly but says nothing for a moment. Tilting his head back, he studies the six of them for a moment before making a noise. “Mmmhmmm,” he hums, “Do you boys have anything to add to that statement?”

James and Sirius share a speaking look, while Severus merely scowls and sets to collecting his things up from all around the hall from when he had been flipped.

“No sir,” the two of them mutter, not looking directly at him. Their two friends say nothing at all, just watch the situation unfolding.

“Then run along, it will soon be dinner time.” The older wizard directs them.

“Yes sir,” they mutter before taking off.

With a shake of his head, the DADA professor gives her one more questioning look, almost as if to say they would have to speak of this later.

Smiling slightly, she nods in response, understanding the unspoken request. “Good day sir,” she tells him before leaving the area.

Furious, she decides to skip dinner, and instead heads back outside letting off a loud whistle for Annon. Somehow that bird always hears her, even when she was nowhere nearby.

A few moments later her white gyrfalcon comes sweeping in to land on her shoulder, chirping at her happily. As she strokes the bird of prey, she relaxes, the anger that she feels at the Marauders slowly fading away. Despite that, she decides to it best to shield in order to avoid problems, in case the boys decide to try and cause problems. That’s where she spends most of the afternoon until she has to go to her Astronomy OWLs.

That evening, after she has completed her Astronomy OWL and returned to the Slytherin common room, she is not surprised to find Severus waiting for her. There are very few others in the common room, but they all depart after a glance between them.

“Why did you interfere?” he snarls once they are the only ones left in the room.

“I wasn’t doing it for you. If you haven’t noticed I hate bullies. They are bullies.” She replies lightly, “I would suggest you grovel if you wish to salvage any sort of relationship with her.” Pausing, she tilts her head to side as she observes him watching as the emotions play through his eyes but not across his features, “Goodnight Severus.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, she heads back to her dorm room to discover that Annon has already returned to her perch. Grabbing her journal, she settles on her bed, raising the protective barriers around it, she sets to recording the events of the day, and seeing what has changed in her time frame from the actions of today. A few of the people she knows were Death Eaters and Death Eater supporters seem to vanish from the history books, and she hopes that is a good sign. Putting the journal aside, she goes to bed.

Early the following morning she heads to breakfast after getting clean up. While all the people she normally converses with greet her, none really talk to her as they are all busy studying or visiting with their friends. She is alright with that as she walks to her normal seat where the boys are already making room for her. With a grateful smile, she sinks into her spot. She still has three more OWLs to do before she is done with them. That’s okay however. Once she is done with them, there is two more days before she has to ride the train back to London. That’s two days to make sure that Rabastan has the spells for banishing a person to the safe zone and cloning them down. They’ve been practicing them at night in her favorite abandoned classroom for the last few weeks when both of them have free time. She’s determined to make damn sure that he is ready for the situation he will be in. Besides that, she needs to make arrangements with Professor Hawklings for a nice long chat at the cabin. 


	22. Chapter 21: Last Days of Fifth Year 1976

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated, thank you to any one for any form of communication, I love it and it keeps me writing!
> 
> Tumblr about my stories: [ JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/)
> 
> So this chapter did not go quite as planned, but hey, that's the muses for you!

_Hermione’s POV_  
The day after she finishes her OWLs, she spends the morning packing everything and working with Rabastan on his spells. Just after lunch she is on her way outside when she runs into Lily Evans in one of the courtyards. A small huff of annoyance escapes her and catches the red-heads attention.

“You’re that new girl, Zeit, from Slytherin House,” the red-haired girl remarks, looking at her curiously for a moment.

Turning to face the other girl, she nods once, her eyes narrowing in annoyance, “I am and you are Lily Evans of Gryffindor House.”

“Are you alright? You look a bit annoyed?” The redhead inquires softly, that caring nature that she has heard about showing through.

A tight look crosses her face, “You really don’t want me answering that question Evans.”

“Why not?” the other girl queries curiously.

“Because what I have to say is not favorable to you,” she responds shortly, trying to keep a hold on her temper. Even if she’s now in Slytherin, she was a Gryffindor girl originally with the temper to match. Since Christmas break she has assisted the redhead with her private meetings with Severus.

Confusion mars the other girl’s features as she demands, “What have I done to you?”

“Me personally? Nothing. I would have shredded you verbally and possibly magically depending on the situation. Others? Well I hate bullies and you encourage them, which bothers me greatly.” She snaps, her temper a bit frayed. It’s a good thing that they are only going to be spending a one more day at the school before everyone gets to go home. After witnessing the events the other day, and then asking Ayumu if she could view the parts she had not seen, the results had been infuriating. Lily might have stepped in, but she found it just as amusing as all of the others who were laughing at Severus. She was supposedly his friend, and yet that behavior was not that of a friend.

“I’m not a bully!” the redhead exclaims hotly.

“You are not much better than one,” she replies then proceeds to list off her reasoning. “You thought it was funny the way the bullies were humiliating Snape. You did not put a stop to it until you made it into a show. You forced him into secrecy as your friend rather than being honest about it. You do not try to stop the four of them from being bullies by being honest and reporting the problems. You think it is fine that they attack him just because he is different, four against one.”

Huffing angrily, the red-haired girl snaps, “You weren’t here through it all! What do you know?”

“I know what I was Shown.” She snaps angrily. “I know that a young man from a mostly muggle neighborhood finds the other magical child in his community to befriend, and while he is the only magical person around she is all about it, but as soon as there are others around she is embarrassed by it and acts like they are not friends. I know from the first day he was attacked for being different. I know that the only reason he ended up in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw is he wanted to have a fighting chance against those who tormented him even before they knew who he was.”

She pauses to take a deep breath, calming herself down before she continues, “I know those five are not going to have a happy life but it would surprise you as to why. Sadly if we include you, that makes six without happy lives. I know there is a war going on and you’re encouragement of your housemates behavior just makes those they torment feel like there is no other option. After all, if that’s an example of good, then the bad must not be much worse.”

Her eyes narrow as she finishes, “I know a lot of things Lily Evans. None of it you really want to know or care about. I’ll tell you this though: if you were ever truly his friend, you need to come clean about your emotions now rather than putting him in hell just for the amusement of your housemates.”

It takes everything in her to keep from telling the other girl that the year after graduation she would be married, months after that she would have a baby, and shortly following her son’s birth she would die. She knows she can’t directly say what is going to happen because that is meddling with time in a way she knows she can’t.

“You’re the bully!” Lily yells at her angrily, tears filling her eyes as she turns to take off.

“One last thing Lily Evans: think carefully about the choices you make. Even the smallest decision can change your future.” She calls after the girl who pauses only long enough to hear the end of the statement before fleeing.

Shaking her head, she continues on her way to the runic circle. She’s pretty certain that the four idiots will come to try and pick a fight with her over this. She’s equally sure she hopes they do ‘cause right now she really wants to hex each and every one of them, even if it is for different reasoning.

Upon reaching the ring she walks a tight circle, summoning the protective magics of a ward before settling onto the ground in order to mediate. She’s not going to visit Ayumu until after she returns to her home in this time frame. So for now she will bring herself back to balance as Ayumu has instructed her. Mediation is not something that naturally comes to her, but it’s something that she is working on.

Taking a deep breath, she focuses on making the Occlumency shields that she studied in preparation for learning how to shapeshift and maybe eventually Legilimency. It still boggles her mind that she will have four different animal shapes that she can become when her teacher who is specialized in transfiguration can only become one. A part of her understands it is due to the fact that she will be shifting using a different form of magic than her teacher but the effect remains.

She has just gotten to her focus point when she hears the sizzle of a spell slamming into her wards along with shouting. Bringing her focus back to the now, she smiles grimly at the sight of three of the Marauders coming to pay her a visit. How charming, she got her wish.

“What did you do to Evans?” James demands furiously, wand leveled at her like it is some sort of threat when she is still within the protections that she knows he cannot drop.

“I told her the truth. She didn’t take it very well. That is not my problem,” she replies as she rises to her feet, ignoring the threat he is trying to present. It’s not that long ago that she had faced off against the senior students of Slytherin House, they were far more scary than these three, and she had not been scared then either.

Growling, Sirius tries casting at her just to find the spell being absorbed into the wards and making her smile. She can actually cast through them but her Gryffindor sense of right and wrong will not allow that.

“You’ll lose,” she tells them as she proceeds to etching the runes to drop them, “I’m going to take pleasure in it too.” Just before completing the dismissal of the wards she shields that way she will not be unprotected.

“You’re just a nasty Slytherin! What do you know!” Peter yells at her, his wand wavering as it is pointed in her direction.

“A great deal more than you, rat.” She snaps in reply but does not raise her wand. Until one of them actively attacks her, she will keep her wand tucked up in her sleeve and not actively attack them.

The two taller boys share a look, an entire conversation passing between them after years of friendship. It’s the same type of look she has shared with the boys countless times. Reminding her that she misses her old life and her friends, that there is no one here that she has that type of friendship with. Briefly her eyes close as she draws her attention back to the present and away from her past.

“Stay away from Evans!” James snaps at her before tugging on Sirius arm, muttering, “We don’t attack girls.”

The look Sirius shoots her is unusual, not one he has sent her way before and not something she wishes to dwell on right now. Later she will try to figure out what it means, but not right now. Now she has other things to deal with. She zones them out, eyes narrowing as she searches the future for any changes but finds none.

Sighing, she decides to go for a walk and think about what’s going on. What does she still need to take care of? First off is getting Professor Hawklings to the cabin and have him swear the second oath. He has office hours after dinner today, perhaps it would be a good idea to stop so they can make arrangements for when they can meet up. First she will get him sworn in, and then she will show him around the entire safe zone she’s in the process of creating.

At this moment there are three of them sworn to the neutrality and tied to the safe zone. Of the three of them, she is quite sure the one will be using it far sooner than he wants as a way to send folks he is supposed to kill there. Oh well, it can’t be helped.

The last time she had checked in with the builders they had been ahead of schedule, probably because their foremen is a dedicated man who keeps them on point.

A smile curves her lips as she remembers the meeting with the older gentleman. His company was the sixth she had researched and interviewed for her project. The first five she had found fault with something about each. When she first met the owner and foreman of the company she eventually hired, she had found the older gruff man to be sincere, serious, and knowledgeable. His company had excellent reviews, and the only reason they were further down the list is she went in alphabetical order.

Chris had listened closely, politely waiting for her to finish before asking questions and going over the details carefully, challenging her to make sure that she actually knows what she is doing. Once they were through all of that, she hired his entire company, not just one part of it, in order to get as much of it done as possible between then and fall of 1977. He tried warning her off using the costs, probably concerned that she doesn’t have the money to pay them for what she needs done and simply shows him the bank statements for the company she set up to do this project under. He seemed amazed by the amount of money there and the fact she plans on setting up automatic payments. From there they had made the arrangements and terms of the contract.

Since then, she has checked in on the progress of the teams several times, quite pleased with the work the teams have been doing. The project is coming along faster and better than expected. From what she can tell, they’re not cutting corners either, they are just that efficient at their jobs.

After she had Warded the cabin, she had popped in for a quick visit and Chris had confronted her about the fact she is a witch. Apparently his mother is a squib and his father a muggle so he is aware of the magical world even if not an active part of it. He’s also aware of the war brewing between the various factions of magical folk. It’s something that concerns him because his youngest grand-daughter shows signs of being magical herself.

She quietly offered to ward his home or allow them to move into one of the houses being built in response to that and much to Chris’ shock. They’re supposed to meet for lunch next week to discuss how the village is coming along and the choices about warding. At this point her schedule for the upcoming week is rather full with appointments with the foreman, the appointment with Professor Hawklings, a meeting with Rabastan, and she’s planning on learning how to shift.

Quickly using her wand to check the time, she discovers that it is nearly dinner time. That she has been out here nearly five hours, lost in her thoughts and dealing with idiots.

Heading back inside, she greets each of the Hufflepuffs, Slytherins, and Ravenclaws she is friendly with on her way to her seat. Dinner for her is a mostly quiet affair, while all around her many of the students are celebrating the end of the year. The last of the exams were today and the mood is jubilant. At least for most the students, those who will be going into hostile home situations are not has excited. She doesn’t have to be able to see in time to know that her little village will be needed sooner than later. Well it’s a good thing they’re ahead of schedule.

After dinner, she heads to the DADA’s professor’s office so they can have a quick discussion about the rest of the binding which they never quite got to in the last few weeks because of one thing or another. Knocking on his office door, she is quickly summoned in.

“Good evening Miss Zeit, what can I do for you?” he greets her as she steps into the office.

Smiling lightly, she replies, “Good evening sir. I figured I should ask if you would like to take a walk on the grounds with me? We have a debate we never quite finished about intent.”

Narrowing his eyes at her, he nods once before answering, “I am done with my office hours at eight pm, come back then to complete that debate.”

She nods, “Yes sir, I look forward to it.”

Saying nothing else, she turns and heads to the abandoned classroom she has been using for potions making all year. Since she is a bit OCD it’s already well organized and only takes her a few minutes to pack everything away in order to have it ready to go. After that, she takes her supplies to her dorm room, adding them to the rest of her luggage. She’s happy that she had the foresight to charm her school luggage like her class bag, which is to say nearly unlimited space that is undetectable by magic and spelled to be lightweight. Once more checking the time, she finds that there is just enough time to return to the DADA office and be there just as he is finishing up. Perfect.

“Ready to complete that debate?” she greets him with a smile.

He nods once and the two of them head towards the front doors chatting about how the intentions of the caster greatly affect the spells strength and ability. She argues that even the darkest spells can be used for good, if the intention behind them is pure, while he argues that dark spells are dark by their very nature and even the best intentions cannot overcome that darkness. They continue to banter back and forth until they reach where the runic ring is, at which point she stops walking and offers a hand. Giving her a confused look he accepts it. Moments later they vanish, Appariting from the school to the Cosmic Star Cottage front entry way.

She can just about feel the shock pouring off of him, “How?” he mutters as he looks around, studying their surroundings.

“Appariting ring buried deep beneath the ground at Hogwarts that allows those sworn to neutrality to travel to this place of refuge. My pendant awoke it,” she explains with a small smile.

He nods once glancing around.

“We’re here so you can complete the second part of the oath to the Order. It will allow you to come and go from here as you like. Allow you to enter the village, well, once it is done.” She remarks as she leads him up to the cabin.

Again he nods, “Alright,” he agrees.

At the front steps, she opens the cabin door and heads inside with him following not too far behind. Inside the cabin, she turns to him and asks, “Do you still wish to complete the oath of neutrality?”

“I do,” he replies formally.

“Then repeat after me,” she states clearly before beginning to state the second half of the oath, allowing him time to repeat it before moving on the next verse. Afterwards she stops to allow him a chance to catch up breathing.

“That’s a bit much isn’t it?” he inquires as he settles onto a chair at the table.

She nods, a small smile curving her lips, “It is, you will get a small mark that shows what level of neutrality you are somewhere on you.” Grabbing a glass from the cupboard she conjures water into it before handing it to him.

“Really?” he sounds intrigued by this, accepting the glass and thirstily drinking it, when it is empty he sets the glass onto the table.

She bobs her head once, “Yes. Now sometime next week, if you have time, I would like to show you around the village. For now we should be getting back to the school before we are missed.” With a quick wave of her wand she refills the glass.

He smiles at her thankfully as he downs the second glass. “That would be excellent. Next Friday is the professor’s last official day at the school, perhaps Saturday morning?” he suggests after considering it for a moment.

“Perfect, nine am?” she offers after thinking about it for a minute, taking the now empty cup, washing it, and putting it away.

It’s his turn to nod.

“Well then, let’s get back,” she recommends as she turns back to him.

The two of them return to the entry way and the Apparition ring at the end of the drive in order to return the school. Once they are on school grounds, they go their separate ways with her heading into the dungeons and the dorm rooms and him heading wherever it is he is going. In her dorm she feeds Annon before writing in her journal and going to bed. Tomorrow should be a lot quicker than today was.


	23. Chapter 22: Shapechanging

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr about my stories: [JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you for any form of communication, I love it and it keeps me writing!
> 
> Lots of thanks to NoOrdinarySouthernGirl for all of her help
> 
> So I was working on my Rare Pair Bingo story Unusual Relationship when Hermione decided she had been waiting for me to get to this long enough, so here the update is.

_Hermione’s POV_  
The last morning of the school year, she makes sure all of her bags are packed and that she has returned all of the books to the library before heading to breakfast. As she walks to breakfast, Annon comes swooping down to land on her shoulder, talons lightly gripping her robe. This will be the last meal at the school before all of the students are supposed to get on the train to go home.

Like any other morning, she greets and visits with all of her good acquaintances on her way to the Slytherin table. She smiles at all the excited conversations going on around her, only half listening as her mind quickly goes through her checklist. Over breakfast several of the Slytherins brag about their plans for the summer, while others are quiet, not really looking forward to what is going to be coming up in their lives.

Following breakfast, she calls on her memories of the coins with the Protean Charm in order to make parchments with a similar charm to be given to members of the order as they come together. She tries a new spell she created, one that ties the protective magic of the neutrality oath to the papers, making it so no one but those sworn to neutrality can read it. She tests it by writing something on the top of her master sheet in the journal.

Turning to one of the other Slytherin ladies, she queries, “Hey can you check if there is ink on that paper? I just spilled some on this one.”

The other Slytherin accepts it, glancing over both sides before answering, “Not that I can see.”

“Thank Lyrae,” she tells the other girl as she accepts the paper back.

Carefully folding the paper up, she tucks it in her pocket and collects what else she would like to take on the train ride.

As she is walking out to the carriages to head to the train, she asks Annon if she would like to fly or ride in the cage. Her falcon chirps at her before taking to the air, letting off a shrill cry as she joins the other birds in flight, the only falcon in the mix. The ride in the carriage is quiet, her group all lost in thought. When they get to the train, she sits in the same compartment as she had previously, the same Slytherins joining her, some for the last time.

As the train pulls into the station, she shares knowing looks with Rabastan and Jacob. When they go to file off the train, she passes each carefully folded pieces of parchment. She bids the rest of her companion’s farewell, with promises to write those that she knows will write back. As she leaves the train, she bids the rest of her acquaintances and friends goodbye as well.

Once the farewells are done, she heads into muggle London for a bit rather than heading straight to the cabin. She shrinks her luggage down so it will fit in her purse. Today she’s going to take it easy, tomorrow she will go to the Between Realm and work on her shape changing. After spending several hours enjoying the sights and sounds of the city, she finds a secluded spot to use her bangle to head to the cabin.

It is not surprising that Zarab is not there since she knows he rarely leaves the Department of Mysteries or Time Room.

The rest of the evening is spent unpacking her necessary things and making sure that the perch and food dishes for Annon are set up. When she whistles at the window, her falcon comes sweeping out of the sky to land on her shoulder. Reaching up to stroke her white feathers, she turns and heads over to where she had set up the birds perch area.

“This is for you,” she tells the falcon.

Chirping softly, the bird nibbles at her hair for a moment before fluttering from her shoulder to the perch.

“I’m going to be gone most of tomorrow, and when I get back I will probably be tired so you might have to do some hunting, alright?” she explains to her bird as she reaches out to stroke her feathers once more.

Annon caws at her, head bobbing slightly as if she is agreeing before her attention shifts to inspecting the room and area around her perch, gliding and hopping as she explores.

Smiling at the bird’s antics, she wards the window so that the weather stays outside and only Annon can go through it before using her bangle to travel to the Time Room.

“Is it that time already? I really thought you had a few more weeks of school left,” the old wizard mutters almost as soon as she materializes.

“It is, though I will not be at the cabin much, there is too much to do. I just thought you would like to know.” She answers with a smile, rather fond of this old man with his preoccupied ways. Had she not had to deal with Riddle and the problems he had caused, she would probably be very like him.

“Yes well, remember to eat and do any of that work you need to do between school years,” he mumbles as he toys with a clock he is working on. “I cannot get this one to work,” he grumbles.

Glancing at it, she asks, “Can I see?”

“Hmmm? Yes, of course,” he answers distractedly as he continues to fiddle with it.

She steps up, studying it for a bit before she points at two pieces and suggests, “Reverse those maybe?” It reminds her of one of the clocks her dad made in his spare time, since one of his is hobbies clockwork.

Frowning in concentration he does so, fiddling with it for a few more moments and just about beaming when it starts to tick slowly. “Wonderful! How did you know?”

“My dad likes to work on clocks as a hobby. I spent a lot of my growing up years spending time in his workshop with him.” Smiling wistfully, she remarks, “He would work on the clock, telling me about them while I was reading.”

“Wonderful!” the old man exclaims again, “Do you mind if I continue here?”

“Nope, just stopped by to tell you I am not going to be around most of the summer but I left my room window open and spelled so that Annon can come and go as she wants while I am busy.” She tells him with a small smile.

“Alright, well I have work to do…” his voice trails off as he starts to play with the new clock.

Chuckling, she uses the bangle to return to the cabin. Once there, she heads in her room to settle on the bed, using the pendant to go visit Amuyu, and appearing in the entrance garden a moment later.

 _Good morning, Hermione,_ the white-haired woman greets her as she drifts into the welcoming garden. _I suspected you would be here sooner than later to work on your shifting. We shall adjourn to the practice garden._

She smiles at the taller woman, following her through the gardens and to the other area. As soon as she is in the garden, she heads to her training spot and settles on the ground and starts to meditate knowing that is what she is going to be told to do first.

 _Very good Hermione, clear everything from your mind except your magic. Allow your mind and body to become peaceful. Allow the energy that flows through you connect you to the elements._ The Keeper directs before becoming quiet to allow her to concentrate.

She doesn’t know how long she stays still, working to clear her mind, and allow everything to fade except the magic. The first thing she becomes aware of is the pull on her body, the way it feels as if it’s getting pulled both up and down, forward and backward. It feels almost like a tide. Focusing on the feeling, she tries to match her breathing to the tide within her mind. Inhaling when it feels like it is coming in and exhaling when it feels like it is going out, though where in and out she is not sure.

 _Now that you have found your first element, allow the magic to connect with it, allow your body to connect with it, become what it desires._ She hears as if far away and as if underwater.

Water. That must be her first element. But how to connect with it? Should she continue what she is doing?

 _Stop thinking so much, you are losing the connection!_ Ayumu informs her.

Flushing, she clears her mind once more, focusing on that tide feeling again until she feels it once more.

Keeping her mind clear is hard. The curious side of her nature is trying to come back to the forefront but she is thrusting it back and ignoring it. When the tingling starts, she ignores it, continuing to focus on the internal tide.

 _I never would have pegged you for water, fire or air perhaps but not water. Go ahead and open your eyes._ The white-haired woman suggests.

Slowly she does so. The first thing she realizes is she is far closer to the ground than she had been. After that she realizes that she has a rather elongated face that ends in a little black nose. She became the otter? Well that’s interesting. The next several minutes include her twisting and turning to study her new shape. Her tail is nearly longer than her body, her paws rather flexible, though each finger is tipped with a claw and webbed together. Her fur is dark brown, a chocolaty color. Having such short limbs is rather odd, as is walking on all four instead of two. Still she manages to move towards the pool of water, her motions reminding her of a ferret or cat with the way she sways.

When she gets to the edge she realizes there is a small problem, even standing on her back legs she is not tall enough to see into the water.

A moment later a small staircase appears beside her made of stone.

 _Thank you,_ she thinks, knowing the older woman will hear her.

 _You’re welcome._ The Keeper responds with a smile.

Carefully climbing up the steps, she peers into the water, noticing that her facial colors are a bit paler than the rest of her and her eyes seem more like her human form eyes than any otter she had seen after looking them up in the library.

 _You should return to your human form. In order to do so come settle back on the ground, clear your mind once more and remember you are human, that the elements are in balance within you._ The guardian instructs her.

Bobbing her head, and noticing how the air feels against her whiskers, she climbs back down the stairs and settles back on the ground though it takes her a few minutes to find a comfortable way to sit.

Clearing her mind takes long this time because everything feels differently as an otter. When she does finally succeed, or at least thinks she succeeds her concentration is broken by her teacher laughing softly.

 _Well then. Open your eyes and study this form as well._ She is directed, amusement lacing the older woman’s voice.

 _What do you mean?_ She tries to ask aloud only to discover she is yipping and barking instead. Her eyes fly open and she looks down to discover small little canine paws. Once more she studies her body, discovering that she has become slightly bigger, still four legged with a tail, only this time it is because she has become a fox.

 _I don’t understand how I became a fox. I was thinking that I need to return to my normal shape._ She grumbles even as she studies herself in interest. According to what she can see, she is a gray fox. With a sleek body, fluffy tail, delicate paws, dark brown top coat of fur that fades into a light cream color on her stomach and paws. Her eyesight is sharper than it has ever been, as is her sense of smell though things smell odd here since she can smell the plants and even her traces of her human form but not the Keeper.

 _I am part of the land here, there is no scent for me because of it._ The keeper explains with a smile. _Shall you try once more to return to your natural human form?_

Bobbing her head, she returns to her spot and instead of trying to mediate decides to spell herself back to human form using the forced animagus return spell that she studied. As she thinks the spell, she feels the energy bubble through her but not affect the way she is shaped. Instead it allows her to changed because she is not focused on becoming her natural form but in becoming human.

 _That is one way to do it, though a bit wrong._ Again there is amusement in the guardian’s voice.

“Well,” she shrugs, blushing as she realizes she is naked, “It allowed me to return to this form.”

Magic swirls around her as her clothing appears on her once more.

 _Indeed. You shall eat and then rest for a bit before returning to practice._ Smiling, the tall woman continues, _Even if this realm is full of magic and energy making it easier to use, it is best to allow your body a chance to adapt._

She nods, understanding perfectly since during her research of animagus transformation it said there would be a lot of meditating, taking breaks to regain magical strength, and snacking.

For several minutes she eats the high energy fruits and snack foods that the older woman provides before retiring to the small bedroom she has been allowed to use on previous visits to take a nap. When she wakes up she is unsure how much time has passed, but there is more food waiting for, so even though she’s not really hungry she eats.

 _Good, now that you are rested and recharged, shall you try again in the practice garden?_ The white-haired keeper suggests as she drifts into the room.

Nodding, she goes to clean up her dishes only to discover they have vanished. “Thank you,” she murmurs before turning towards the garden and heading out.

_You are welcome._

Once in the garden she settles on the ground to meditate before focusing on becoming an otter. Instead of focusing on the magic like she did last time, she plans to try focusing on the form. She wants to be an otter. Her body is that of an otter. It seems to work because she feels the swell of the tides within her just before the tingling starts. Opening her eyes, she holds her hands out as the energy swirls through her once more. Her skin rippling and becoming liquid as her body shrinks until it is no longer a human hand she is looking at but an otter’s paw. Once more she twists and turns to study her body, internally smiling because her plan worked. Now it is time to try it in reverse to return to human shape.

When the plan works, she goes from being an otter to being a human, this time with clothes, she just about jumps for joy.

“It worked!” she exclaims happily. “It worked!”

Without even waiting for Ayumu to say anything, she tries it again, turning back into the otter before dancing around in her small form. She finds with each successful shift, it’s getting easier to do so.

After returning to human form, she snacks on the fruit that the Keeper conjures.

“Now to see if I can become a fox again,” she remarks before repeating the process only with her mind focused on the fox.

 _That is a good plan,_ the white-haired woman answers even as she starts to focus on becoming a fox.

It takes it a few seconds longer, but she eventually feels the change building within her. Instead of the feeling of tides and water that she gets from turning into an otter, she feels solid, secure, and unbreakable. It’s as if time does not really matter, going on forever and never. It takes her a few minutes to recognize the feeling as being part of the earth, something she has felt when meditating on the edge of Forbidden Forest. As she watches, her skin ripples once more before she starts shrinking and changing, this time instead of ripples it seems like a layered change. Her mind supplies her with a variety of layered situations in nature including plant growth and rocks. One moment she is a human, the next a fox.

Once changed, she dances around in place, studying the differences of feelings between fox and otter before returning to her human form.

“This is amazing,” she tells the guardian with a huge smile, “I really wasn’t sure I would be able to do it. It just seemed so surreal when you first said I would have multiple forms.”

Chuckling, white-haired keeper nods. _Understandable. Are you going to try for your other forms today or later?_

Still beaming, she thinks about it for a few minutes before nodding her head once, “Today.” She answers decisively.

Several minutes pass in quiet as food appears once more for her to snack on.

When she is done once more, the Keeper smiles at her, suggesting, _Then try._

Settling back into her spot, she considers how each change feels. With the otter, she feels like there is an internal tide, the water gathering to make her something different. With the fox, she feels as if she is connected to the planet and earth itself. So how to connect to the other two forms? Well the first time she changed from otter to fox was because she was thinking of her natural form without being exact. Perhaps she should try that again.

Turning into an otter, she walks about for a bit before deciding to change into her fox form. After being a fox for a bit, she settles into her spot to meditate on being her natural form, allowing the magic to pool within her.

This time the tingling seems different, almost as if she can feel the molecules in her body moving about, like every breath rushes through her, away from her, and around her. One moment she is the fox, and the next her vision is weird extremely sharp and dull at the same time, allowing her to focus on amazing detail but difficult to control.

 _I am going to lift you up,_ the Keeper tells her gently as long fingers wrap around her body though the feeling is odd.

She is not standing on four feet, only two, but the balance seems odd. Carefully looking down, she realizes that she has talons. That means she must have become her falcon form. As the white-haired woman carefully sets her on the edge of the pool, she continues to study herself, cawing softly at the bird in the reflection. Amazing, simply amazing. She will be able to fly with Annon now.

 _Will I be able to talk with Annon in this shape?_ She inquires, thinking the question since she knows the older woman will hear her.

 _Yes, and it might be best to learn flight from her since each bird is a bit different._ The older woman replies.

She nods her head once, considering asking to be placed on the ground rather than gliding.

Smiling gently, Ayumu scoops her up and sets her down.

Almost as soon as she is on the ground, she repeats the mantra she had developed for turning from her other forms to human. A moment later she feels that air moving around her feeling once more before becoming a human again.

“It will take some time adjusting to the eyesight of a falcon,” she mutters as she conjures herself a glass of water. “It’s amazing, simply amazing.”

 _That’s good._ Tilting her head thoughtfully, the keeper considers something for a moment before commenting, _Some of the changes may carry over to your human form, or you can learn to use them. I do not know if this is true for animagus as well, but it is for shapeshifters._

She shakes her head, “Not as far as I have found. A person becomes the animal they are most like as an animagus, but that form has no effect on their human form.” Pausing for a long moment she considers it before commenting, “I think I will get a journal and record all of the feelings, sensations, and changes that come with shape changing. Is there a way for me to relive it outside my memory?”

 _Of course, I will see if I still have the recalling bowl, if so I will send it with you so you may practice and study this at home. However a word of caution: do not allow yourself to be in it for too long a time or you could become trapped within the memory._ The white-haired woman responds.

Understanding the danger intellectually, she nods, “Alright. I will make sure that Zarab is around to pull me out if need be.”

 _That is a good idea._ Ayumu agrees with a small nod.

“I am going to work on the three for a little bit, snack, take another nap, and see if I can get the last form if that is alright?” She queries after considering what she wants to do.

 _It’s fine, I will go look for that bowl, you know where the room is and food will appear as soon as you sit at the table._ The Keeper responds lightly before drifting off like a wraith once more.

For the next several hours she does just that. Taking her time learning what each feeling is and how it works with her form before, during, and after a change. While she is resting, she starts to organize her minds into notes, putting them in order so that she can figure out exactly how each will be written before she takes her nap. The great thing about how her memory works is the fact it will still be there when she gets up with just as much clarity as she has now. After her nap, she eats one more time before retreating to the practice garden for another round of shifting.

She goes through the first three forms first. Taking her time repeating the process that seems to work for unlocking a new shape, she pays close attention to the feelings in her body. Tides for her otter; solid agelessness for her fox; each part of her breath for her falcon. When she first starts to go from falcon to lizard, she feels her body getting warm. Very warm as if her core body temperature is several degrees higher than it actually is. Ah. Her lizard is tied to fire, so the heat is probably her body’s way of telling her which form she is changing into.

Once she has changed, she studies herself once more. Finding that she is not nearly as flexible in this form as in her other forms. However she feels sturdier, like this form can take surprising conditions if need be. Again she repeats the mantra for returning to human form before stopping for a break and rest.

“I did it! I became all four forms!” She exclaims happily. Curiously she inquires, “Now how long have I been here?”

 _Roughly forty-nine hours. I am surprised at how little rest you took between shifts. I do believe that is the fastest I have ever seen someone pick up four forms._ The Keeper answers her seriously. _I have found the bowl as well. When I send you back, only a few hours will have passed, though you may wish sleep in your own time some more._

“All right. Thank you, really thank you. This is amazing. Every time I come here I learn something new or unique. I really do appreciate it.” She states sincerely.

 _Get a bit more practice in then you can go back_ , the white-haired woman suggests with a smile.

Nodding, she does just that. Spending several more hours between shifting, napping, and eating before finally heading home, well what she is currently calling home anyways. She will give it a day or two in the regular world to rest before she works on it there. By the end of summer vacation she wants to have all four forms down smoothly so she is just as good at changing as the Marauders, if not better since she has more shapes than them.


	24. CH23: Planning and Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *waves* hi all, I know it's been 13 months since the last update, life has been bloody insane it seems, thank you for anyone still around, I hope everyone has a good new year, and look forward to any comments or reviews left.

Hermione’s POV  
She spends the next few days relaxing. During that time she doesn't use her magic, having remembered the warning that using too much magic after learning to become an animagus can cause magical exhaustion.

By day three, she feels great, almost like she's bursting with energy.

She has all the notes she had organized in her mind written out and categorized, ready for later additions. Now she needs to use the bowl in order to look at the transformations. She's curious if it will be like using a pensive. Actually, when should ask Ayumu how it works before trying.

Getting up and walking over to the shelf it's sitting on, she grins when she realizes that there is a sheet of parchment with it. Carefully picking it up and reading it, she snickers at the instructions.

-Place bowl on flat surface, touch fingers to it, think about what you want to view, have someone with you to take your hand out if you go over an hour.-

Now, the question is: who to have as her spotter? She's got four to chose from, but her best bet is going to be Professor Hawkling. Once she knows who she is going to ask for assistance, it is only a matter of writing a quick note and asking Annon to send carry it for her. Less than an hour later she gets an agreement note in response.

Smiling, she give her falcon a treat before collecting up what she needs and vanishing, taking herself the quick way to the cottage. She’s the first one there, but that isn’t really a surprise since she is at least thirty minutes early at the moment. Still, she decides to play gracious hostess and makes some small snacks and hot tea to have ready for when he arrives.

Actually, she taps her wand against her lip, what would be useful is an autowrite spell so she can dictate notes while she is in the pensive, for a lack of a better name, in order to organize and consider them later. If the beetle can do it, there is no reason she can’t. The question is just a matter of how.

She’s still considering it when there is a sharp knock at the door, alerting her that the professor is there.

Standing, she strides to the door, still considering her options as she opens it up and greets the older man with a warm smile.

“Hello, Professor Hawkling, thank you for agreeing to help.” She comments as she waves him in.  
He smiles, just the barest twitch of the lips that reminds her of another person’s smile years from now and how different it is now.

Shaking her head slightly, she asks, “Would you like some tea or snacks? There isn’t a lot of food here yet, mostly because it’s not stocked up, but there is some.”

“Please and thank you,” he replies, accepting the cup that she summons in order to pour the tea in it. “Working with a pensive?”

She nods, “Pretty much, slightly different but the theory is similar. I’ve been warned to keep a spotter in order to not get stuck in the past.”

“I’m guessing I wasn’t your only choice considering where we are sitting, but you picked me for my field of profession.” He remarks curiously.

“Well, it was going to be you or my guardian, but as my guardian can be a bit absent minded, I thought you’d be the better choice. I like Jacob, but he lacks the raw willpower to pull me out if I get stuck,” she reasons as she sips at her tea.

He nods once in agreement, “I can understand that.”

“So I put water in the bowl, my hand in the water, and poof I am in the memory.” She explains as she gets up to put water in it, “I can’t be in it for more than two hours at a time. There has to be at least thirty minutes between trips in the bowl.”

Again he nods, watching as she moves about.

“You’re a muggle-born in Slytherin?” he asks as she sets the bowl back down.

Grinning unrepentantly, she answers, “Yep. I’m a muggle-born from the future in Slytherin.”

He chuckles quietly, a low rumbling sound that invites laughter. “Have to say that’s ironic.”

“The hat found it quite funny too, and has told me we’ll discuss it when I get back, though I am not sure how.” She replies with a snicker.

She is just about to put her hand in the bowl when she remembers the spell she was trying to think of earlier. It’s one she has played around with, but hadn’t used often because she hand writes things faster than it can note take. Still, it will be useful for this particularly situation. Summoning the writing supplies, she charms them, before resuming her position with her fingers just above the bowl. She set it up so her arm mostly rests on top of a waterproof book and her fingers gently rest over the edge to avoid getting any cramps. Time to look closely at how she changed shapes.

The feeling of sinking into the past is hard to describe. It’s like she is with her body yet separate. She knows what’s going around herself as Jade. Yet she’s Hermione: short, curvy, bushy hair, peach skinned. She momentarily wonders if she can see the relatives she got the different features from, but forces her mind back to the shape changing when her environment around her starts to change. That could be handy to explore later. Not right now when she has work to do.

Watching herself looking different work through the different shapes is odd. However it’s also helpful since it gives her a chance to see how ‘someone else’ looks while changing.

She murmurs to herself as she watches the scene unfolding. It’s startling, watching from an outside perspective as she changes forms. The smoothest of the first changes is from human to the otter. There are hardly any outwards signs it’s her first time changing. The choppiest of her changes is between human and the barbed agama.

That’s the one she pays the closest attention to, as it’s the one she had the hardest time with. What if she treats being a werewolf like trying to change and not getting a good connection, she muses as she walks circles around herself. Looking at the changes from every angle and each steps in slow motion. She’s not certain how time flows in this bowl, but she’s very thankful for what it’s doing.

She’s startled when she feels someone touching her wrist, and even more startled when she is suddenly in her body again, and out of the past.

“It’s three minutes past two hours,” he tells her seriously, wand waving in her general direction in what she recognizes as a diagnostics spell.

“Thank you,” she tells him seriously, before glancing at her paper and grinning when she sees all of the pages with carefully detailed notes. Excellent, she thinks as she looks through them, perfectly detailed and covering everything she had murmured while in the bowl and the past. Speaking of that, “Was I talking?”

He blinks at her in confusion before slightly shaking his head once and answering, “No. Should you have been?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know. I know I was speaking while I was in there, and that everything I said is now recorded here, but I wasn’t sure if what I was saying was also being said.”

“Ah,” he hums, “It’s like a pensive in that case, you can speak aloud, and I am betting with someone else with you, but it doesn’t carry over to the ‘real world’.”

Nodding, she glances at the papers and grins. “Yes. Unlike a pensive, I can look at events I wasn’t present for. I started wondering where I got the hair from, I know you only see vague outlines but I have really bushy hair in more real body, and the scene started to change. Maybe some other time I will actually look at it. Cause I really am curious on that note.”

He chuckles, then asks, “Will you be doing more today?”

“I don’t know,” she answers, glancing at the papers. “I need to go through my notes first, both sets, so probably not until tomorrow.”

“Then I will take my leave, I have a little bit of paperwork left at the school before I hand it over to the next defense teacher.” He tells her, “Thank you for trusting me to help.”

She blinks at him, nodding slowly, “Thank you for helping.” She doesn’t see him out because she is already working on going through the notes in her head.


End file.
